Newbie question: I'm looking to replace a SLR that I used primarily with a 70-205 zoom lens with macro. (I like insects and distant animals.) How do I compare specs like 2x zoom on digital cameras with focal length specs on SLR lenses? Do many vendors offer add-on lenses to digital cameras?

TIA Walter

-- Walter Hanig (wdhanig@alumni.rice.edu), March 29, 1999

Answers

Your SLR zoom is basically a 3-1 zoom that goes from moderate telephoto to long telephoto. Since the digital cameras have non-removable lenses, they tend to cover the range from slightly wide angle to slightly telephoto. Most 3-1 zooms on digicams are equivalent to roughly a 35-105 lens on a 35 mm SLR. Most 2-1 zooms are wider, ranging from around a 30mm to 60mm equivalent on a 35mm SLR.

-- Doug Green (dougjgreen@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.

Many of the newer digital cameras (i.e. Agfa 1680 and CL50, Nikon CP950) come with a 3x zoom that is approximately 35mm to 105mm. To get what you want, the simplest would (I would think) be to get a camera that can take a 2x teleconverter. Then you'd have your 70mm-210mm zoom, and you'd also have the 'normal' range, say, if you want to take pictures while on vacation.

-- Simon Karpen (karpes@rpi.edu), April 03, 1999.

Whilst I do not know the technical details you ask , I have a RICOH RDC-2 camera which has two built in lense so that macro pictures can be taken. There is a Bi-focal switching lever, to choose the desired view and the minimum shooting distance is standard view 3 cm and wide angle view 1cm. I have an LDC Monitor attached in which one can see the view taken as the image in the viewfinder can be quite different from the picture in the monitor insofar as macro shooting is concerned.

-- Norman Overington (ngo@f1racing.co.uk), July 05, 2000.