Yeah, it used to be really hard to find. Today, almost every mfgr has at least one version with wide angle. My discontinued Canon S-60 (and S-70) has one, the small Canon digital Elph SD800 mentioned earlier. Nikon has several models with a wide zoom, one of them is the Nikon Coolpix P50 that goes from 28-102 and it is only $189 at Amazon. It uses AA batteries. Olympus has had several generations of wide zoom range. Panasonic has a model with a Leica high quality lens with a wide zoom that my brother in law is very happy with. So there are lots of choices, but if an adjuster isn't aware of the issue - you will simply be frustrated on a daily basis. You will feel like you need to keep "stepping back" to get the full view of the room, but can't go back any more.
These wide angle lenses were standard back in the day, with 35mm film cameras. It's the only way to show the whole roof, before you zoom in on the damage. You need a wide angle lens to show a street scene and actually see the cross-street on either side of the intersection. And if something is in a junk yard, crammed in with other vehicles, it's the only way to show the whole vehicle as you cannot step back far enough from the other wreckage that surrounds it. If you go to Digital Photography Review they have a buying guide where you can select criteria like Wide Angle Zoom and see the choices for "compact", then "ultra compact" etc. If I wanted another large camera I would get the Canon Digital Rebel XTi with the wide zoom that comes with it (28-90 equivelant). But I want my next camera to be as small as possible so I'm gonna get the Canon digital Elph SD800 with 28-105 wide zoom. |