Mega/Hyper Zoom Lenses

[Zehn Ziegen]

Good-day,

I am hoping to get some opinions of mega/hyper zoom lenses (e.g., 28-200 mm, etc.).

Does the image quality deteriorate significantly towards the outer boudaries (i.e, 28 mm and 200 mm for the example given above)?

Would it be better to spend somewhat more money to get at least two lenses with smaller individual ranges to cover the entire range (i.e., 18-50 mm and 55-200 mm)?

Thank you for your time.

Auf wiedersehen,

James

[Michael Fanelli]

Good-day,

I am hoping to get some opinions of mega/hyper zoom lenses (e.g., 28-200 mm, etc.).

Does the image quality deteriorate significantly towards the outer boudaries (i.e, 28 mm and 200 mm for the example given above)?

Would it be better to spend somewhat more money to get at least two lenses with smaller individual ranges to cover the entire range (i.e., 18-50 mm and 55-200 mm)?

Given two good quality zooms, the shorter zooms will generally be better than one long version. After you get past about 3x or 4x, compromises have to be made.

However, these super zooms mean you only have to carry one lens. It might get a photo that might be missed as you change lenses. Some of these lenses are excellent.

Try taking some shots with each type, see if it works well for you.

[gmen]

What camera system are you using? And what are you budgeting? There are always compromises with these long zooms, but if you are in the market for something like this: http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/con...9&modelid=9802 then these are minimised.

[Irakly Shanidze]

It is common knowledge that hyper-zooms are non that dandy when it comes to such things as corner sharpness and resolution at wide and small apertures, but try to think about in terms of size of your prints. If you never print larger than 5x7, a tamron 28-300 will do, but if you print letter size and larger, you really have to by at least three zooms that cover this range, provided you need excellent image quality. Also try to think not about how versatile your setup will be, but what percentage of your shots are shot at what focal lens.
For instance, when I shoot Contax N Digital, about a half of pictures are taken with 17-35 zoom and another half is split between 50 and 85mm primes. I do have 70-300, but I do not even remember when it was the last time that I used it. When I shoot Canon, 14mm and 35mm primes split about 70%, and the rest is between 85 and 135 primes. I have 24-70 and 70-200 zooms, but they are sooo heavy...