How to understand lens jargon?

[eloki]

Thanks for the replies!

The one thing that I've been reading about is that so-called "zoom creep" which this lens seems to suffer from. Is it that bad / annoying?

[fillum]

The one thing that I've been reading about is that so-called "zoom creep" which this lens seems to suffer from. Is it that bad / annoying?

From what I read many people find it quite annoying, however it doesn't bother me. Mine does creep but doesn't have much impact in use.

I shoot mostly hand-held so would normally have my left hand holding the zoom ring anyhow. If I point the camera down to check the back screen the zoom often creeps, but I just reframe when I put it back to my eye. If you do a lot of tripod based shooting where the lens is pointed either down or up (astro for example) then it would probably be a big problem.

Zoom creep can be a problem when walking around with the camera over your shoulder (although the newer version has a switch to lock the zoom at the short end). When I'm walking around I usually leave the camera in a small shoulder bag (Lowepro TLZ1). At those times when I am walking around with the camera out of the bag I support the camera with my hand (I don't leave it swinging from my shoulder), so creep is not a problem for me here either.

I just had a quick look at my lens (gen 1) and the zoom appears to have tightened up a bit, probably because I don't use a lot these days. I'd imagine the opposite probably happens as well - the more you use it, the looser the zoom will become (and consequently its tendency to creep).


Cheers.