On 2004-11-22, Alien Jones wrote:

snip
Tell me please Will... the 50 1.4 you speak of. Is this the lens which is
noisey? I just ordered a 50mm 1.4 USM lens. I hope you are talking about a
different model!!!

Heh, well, They call it a micro USM lens. That means it has the small
micromotor instead of the larger older micromotor. Most USM lenses use
the ring motor which is virtually silent and vibration free, not so the
micro USM. And it has a gritty movement, compared to the other ring
motors. At the time I got it, I was disappointed in these facts, but
checking around a bit revealed that they all did that. Maybe the newer
ones are smoother, I don't know.

That said, it is one hell of a great lens, possibly the very sharpest of
the Canon EF lenses, and it is sturdy, etc, etc. The small annoyance of
the AF movement is easily offset by the capabilities of the lens itself.

If you do some landscapes, a (as yet un confirmed) good quality lens from
Canon is the 10~22 "coke bottle" lens. The USM (f4.0) 17~40 is a big hit on

Note that I don't call it a "coke bottle" lens. The lens I was referring
to (had in mind) was the 28-85(?) zoom that comes with the film Rebels
as the kit lens. The wide angle zooms are altogether a different lens
in a different price range.

I don't do a lot of landscapes now, and never did landscape per se with
cassette film, only roll and sheet film cameras.

the cost of a kit version 20D. Financially speaking, I can see a lot of
value in a 18~55, 20D kit and an additional 10~22 lens. There is not much
wider without a fisheye and if it is as good as the other speciality lenses
from Canon, it will be good enough for most people. Me included.

These new lenses are evidently very fine performers, though there is
still some difference between zooms and primes, just nowhere near as
much as there used to be. I've no idea what sort of wide lenses I will
be looking at when I eventually go DSLR.

HTH

Will D.