Currently I owned a Canon Pro 70 digital camera. One of the main reason for puchasing this camera is because it is the only digital camera in the market which comes with the widest wide angle lens(About 28mm lens as compared to a 135mm film format). If you look around, none of the other brand could offer a wide angle as wide as the Canon could produce. I am wondering why they don't produce it. Most of the lenses are around 35mm/38mm to 105mm lens ratio. I am very sure there are many people in this market that need or require a much wider angle lens, especially good for shooting buildings, landscapes etc. Can anyone share with me on this? It would even be best if the camera manufacturers other than Canon could provide an answer to this question. Thanks.

with regards Alex Ong

-- Alex Ong (wei0203@hotmail.com), February 08, 2000

Answers

I'm also a wide angle fan. You can stick on .8X diopters on a bunch of digicams, like my 505, or the nikon 950. The ones that go wider have image quality probs in my opinion. Then there's the cameras that take off the shelf 35mm lenses, like D5 and the coming fuji, etc..

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), February 08, 2000.

It'd be cost prohibitive to go much wider. Since the size of the sensing element is small, the lens required for a wide view comparable to 35mm film sizes would have an equally small focal length. The wider the angle (and for the manufacturer the shorter the focal length) the more difficult to get a lens that is both photographically acceptable (avoids or eliminates distortion) and economical to produce. The cameras are generally aimed at a general audience, getting the little extra wideness for a few users who might need it would drive the cost up enormously. There are alternatives in the "professional" end that are still in the unobtanium range for the rest of us. Check out 35mm lens costs and check the way prices go up as you get wider and this has a huge user support base :)!

-- Craig Gillette (cgillette@thegrid.net), February 08, 2000.

Thank goodness that at least one manufacturer, Fuji, has seen sense and will be producing a camera with a sensible sized sensor. At 1.1 inch,(diagonal, presumably)it's still not big enough IMHO, but getting there.

With the current rash [rash- an unsightly collection of spots] of 6x8mm sensors, you would need to go down to a ridiculous 5mm focal length to get the equivalent of a 24mm lens on 35mm.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 09, 2000.

The Sony DSC-D770 (and D700) are both 28mm at their wide angle to 140mm at the top end of the zoom range.

-- Robert Maclellan (rmaclellan@buffalo.com), February 09, 2000.