Maybe Im stupid but why does the mousewheel zoom the viewport camera instead of moving it in or out. Is there a way to change this? You can only zoom in so far and then have to press “.” to reset view to selected object. Same with the rendering camera. Why cant the mouse wheel dolly the cam in or out and let the zoom factor be set by some other gadget. Also the distorted view is quite annoying, like the rate of perspective if u know what i mean…
I can only agree. [many of my own words removed because I just discovered…] Ctrl+Shift+MMB really moves the rotation center in user perspective. Unfortunately only by the current zoom level, i.e. at maximum zoom, (almost) no forward movement is done. You first have to zoom out, then move forward, then zoom in.
In addition, there’s Shift+F (fly mode), but I don’t use it as it’s not intuitive.
I do not know what “distorted view” means.
If your camera is in perspective mode and you are using a short lens then you may see distortion, just like in a real camera. I almost always change my camera lens from 35mm to 50mm when I start on a scene, and sometimes longer. Incidentally, the lens control I’m talking about here is in the View section of the 3D window’s properties panel, not the camera focal length (although I usually set them to the same values).
Ya thanks folks. Im starting to peice things together. Been using blender for only two months or so. Best 3d app ive tried yet. Was with Hexagon and Carrara. No comparison…
Ok, so is the last picture a solution or a question? 
Change the lens angle so that it’s not “like this”.
After reading your question today, I’m preparing a little image illustrating some correlations (still “work in progress”!):
work in progress
I’ll post the finished version.
Thats the distortion i mean. I know how to fix it now. Am learning how to adjust focal length. Ya your drawing helps understand it.
Ok.
Meanwhile I’ve finished some (6) explaining pictures. It became more than I thought but it’s not sufficient to be more - if you know what I mean. For being good it requires more efforts. So I think posting them here would only waste screen space. … I’ve zipped them here without adding further information.