Re: Question about Lenses

The problem with so-called "all-in-one" lenses is that because of the compromises that are made in the design of these lenses results in some somewhat severe image degradation at both ends of the spectrum.

Back in the bad old days, the way most photographers (including yours truly) dealt with this issue was simple... we carried multiple cameras with lenses of different focal lengths on them. Usually two bodies was adequate. I usually chose a medium wide angle lens, say a 35mm(I'm talking about 35mm film cameras here...) for most "normal" views and a moderate telephoto (105mm or 135mm) for telephoto views. Lenses longer than that (actually anything longer than 200mm) required a tripod to be used to ensure that the images were sharp, and lenses shorter than 35mm begin to introduce some serious distortions.

Of course, back in the bad old days, camera bodies were a lot cheaper, and image quality was a function of the film you used. Nowadays, bodies are pricey (although a "lower end" camera body could be used as a second body with not that much loss in image quality) and film is virtually non-existent.