Re: Angle of view comparisons?

Steven Green <steven.green30@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>I am interested in a digital SLR for landscapes, especially wide angle 
>photography.
>
>I see lots of lens reviews for various cameras, but what I am looking for

>is something that compares them using angle of view rather than 25mm etc.


But the angle of view is a property of the lens, not of the camera. Even
the
crop factor only determines how much of that angle of view is actually
captured by the sensor. Comparing _cameras_ based on a _lens_ property
doesn't  seem to make much sense to me.
 
Anyway, http://www.slrgear.com
includes the angle of view in the spec
section of the reviews.

>Is there a comparison of 12mp smaller format camera/lens with a 12mp full

>frame sensor at various angles of view? Is there something inherently 
>better about bigger lenses and sensors? I think I read that a bigger 
>sensor has less noise, but is there anything better about the lenses?

_THE_ main feature of SLRs is the ability to swap lenses. There is no
difference between "normal" lenses and "DX" lenses(*) except the smaller
image circle on DX. In particular nothing is stopping you from using a
"large" lens on a "small" sensor. Actually that is what photographers have
been doing forever: using lenses that were "designed" for film SLRs.
And even the other way round, using a DX lens on a FF camera, works
sometimes, too, although you may get vignetting at some apertures or focal
lengths.

*: Some people say that lenses designed for digital cameras have special
rear coating to reduce back reflection and that the light is refrected
more
parallel to the axis such that is will hit the sensor at a more
rectangular
angle than with older film lenses. 
I do not know if this is true or not, but that would apply to _all_ lenses
designed for digital cameras, no matter if "large" or "small".

jue