I'm wondering what the focal legth range is of the A1 lens in terms of 35mm. Also when I see an f stop of 1.6 is this truely 1.6 or something else really?

I'd appreciate some technical (formulas) explantion if possible rather than just numbers :)

Thanks.

Shiv.

I think the lens is 25mm-650mm zoom

It's about 31.5 mm on the wide end, which would be about 630 on the long end. I wish it did go to 25mm!

My guess is the f-stops are more like t-stops, but I don't know.

From Canon's website on the A-1

Focal Length: 4.5mm - 90mm (32.5mm - 650mm; 35mm photo equivalent)

Max. F/Stop: f/1.6 -- 35mm

When you zoom in the f-stop drops to f/3.6 or something.

For Shiv, please see my Canon XH A1 Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.dvinfo.net/canonxh/xhfaq.php -- thanks in advance,

Thank you all for your replies. It is much appreciated.

Chris, I did look at the FAQ before asking. I guess I was looking for a question similar to the one I asked :)

Shiv.

Focal length and maximum aperture values are both explained on that page.

Yes they are. What I meant to say is that I was looking for a specific question and didn't find one that I thought would have an answer for me. I wasn't looking at the answers, just the questions.

Shiv.

Oops I missed it by a mm. 32.5, not 31.5. I find that to be wide enough for just about everything I do. So far I haven't had a need for a wide angle adapter and from past experience with an 8.5mm on a 2/3" chip camera, I doubt I'll need one. The same thing is not true for the XL series standard lenses. In shooting with a friend's XL2, I had the wide angle adapter on more than off. If I got the XL H1 I'd have to also get the wide angle lens.

Just keep in mind that the 35mm equivalent focal lengths are based on field of view, and are approximate. The aspect ratio of a standard 35mm film frame is ~3:2 while the camcorder does 16:9 or 4:3.

Don,

Right, I did forget to take that into account. So is the FOV of a 16:9 considered more than 3:2?

Wish there was a 32.5 - 650 mm "L" lens for D-SLRs!

Sigma has a 50-500. That's probably as close as you can get.

3:2 would correspond to 13.5:9
4:3 would correspond to 12:9

Don,

Right I should have been able to figure that one out.

Thanks.

Shiv.