calarrick

You mean using an external meter for a camera without metering?

It isn't hard, exactly. It just can be much much slower and less convenient than TTL metering with a camera that does it -- especially if the light is changing on you.

(this from someone who is just worried that when I get my fancy new digital SLR (probably D80) the *autofocus* will be too hard and confusing and new to figure out)

I was under the impression that the D80 was supposed to have DOF preview...

...anyway... short of something really unexpected in the initial reports I'll be in the market for one of these too, so keep us posted!

I'm curious (and have some speculations of my own) what people think of the

apparent near-universality of zoom lenses today.

It used to seem that a lot of people who bought "fancy" cameras (i.e. SLRs)but

weren't really that involved photographically bought big zoom lenses, but

the "serious" (at least outside of exotic and expensive exceptions) lenses were

still mostly primes. Now, it seems like almost everything being developed, and

much of what is at least marketed at the "serious amateur" segment is zoom.

Why is this? Are modern zoom lenses really THAT good? Is it something in the

ethos or habit that matches up nicely with some of the "convenience factor"

aspects of digital? Is the "dust on the sensor" problem really so serious that

consumers should try to use one lens for almost every purpose? Do people

really not like to step backward and forward anymore?

I'm particularly curious, because it seems to me that with the sensor being

smaller than the film frame, so that the focal lengths of the most useful

lenses will be shorter, that wide maximum apertures (for control over depth of

field) would be *more* important, rather than less. And while reputedly better

optically, zoom lenses don't seem to be any faster than they used to be. I

suppose that the ability to use faster ISO-equivalents with less image-quality

penalty takes away the other main reason for fast prime lenses, but still...