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Anonymous
Focal length matters here with different types of cameras. An example might help: On something like my FZ-8, when the lens is 6mm, with regards to everything but depth of field it works just like a 36mm lens would on a 35mm film camera, because its sensor is smaller than a piece of film. However, with regards to depth of field, it really does work like a 6mm lens: almost everything will be in focus. For the type of photography I usually do, this is great, and it's one of the reasons I'm one of the few who prefers a high-end digicam to an SLR with a larger sensor. However, the downside is that when I do do things where I want the background blurred, like simple portraits, I have to zoom it all the way in to its real maximum, 72mm. In this case, it'll have the depth of field of a medium telephoto, but otherwise I have to treat it like the 432mm lens it acts like otherwise. Think about the sort of photography you want to do while you're deciding on what camera to get.
Oh, and some lens terms: a "prime" is a lens with one focal length; a "zoom" or "vario" lens is one where it can be adjusted. Primes tend to be smaller, lighter, and better made than equivalent zoom lenses, but they have the disadvantage of being fixed, and therefore less versatile.
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