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What you need as glass (Part V - Standard Zoom)

July 19th, 2011

This is part V of a series of what glass you will need. Each part will discuss a certain lens type and its applications.

Zoom lenses are are rather modern concept that came with the SLRs going consumer. The first zooms had a moderate zoom range and rather small apertures - in film zoom lenses were much more popular and of much higher quality. The marketing was more “Get two (three) lenses in one” appealing to the casual photographer how didn’t carry a bag with all the gear or had different bodies hanging around his neck. Who ever tried to mount a M42 lens while walking quickly sees the benefit.

This class of consumer zooms still exists, but it had been complemented by pro-class zooms that obliterated prime lenses in many applications or even outperforms them.

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What you need as glass (Part I - Standard Prime)

July 9th, 2011

This is part I of a series of what glass you will need. Each part will discuss a certain lens type and its applications

Standard prime lenses had been the base of each SLR equipment since the earliest days. Virtually all SLR were sold in a kit with a 50mm f/1.8 and many of us never used anything else. In range-finder world the slightly wider 35mm was the standard.

It is said that a 50mm would give you a field of view similar to our vision (I stick with the FX convention for FOV<->focal-length, for DX divide by 1.5). This is somewhat true. Our field of vision is much wider, but the zone where we  see sharp much narrower. I think the main reason for the “nifty-fitfties” is that they are the widest lenses with a still rather simple design: The focal length is larger than the flange distance.

So do you need it and what do you expect from it.

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Windows 7 ohne Browser - back to the ’80s

June 14th, 2009

Oh je - ein Betriebssystem ohne Browser.

Es ist nicht Microsofts böser Wille, was hätten sie den tun sollen ALLE Browser mitliefern oder über ein Bootstrap-Menü anbieten - schwer möglich, da sie mit Sicherheit irgendeinen Exoten vergessen würden und die anderen über den Listenplatz prozessieren würden wie Politiker vor einer Wahl.

Ah, ein randomisiertes Menü - natürlich nicht mit gewichteten Wahrscheinlichkeiten (Browser mit hohem Marktanteil werden tendeziell nach vorne gestellt), weil das ja  bestehende Verhältnisse befördern würde.

Ich  mache mir allerdings wirklich Sorgen über den Präzedenzfall, denn dieses Verfahren schafft. Windows 8 dann ohne “Explorer”, damit “Norton Commander” wieder mehr Kunden findet? Keine Firewall mehr, sodass die vage Hoffnung der User kaufe eine andere die Ausbreitung von Trojanern fördert?

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