Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 02:34 PM 8/8/97 -0600, Chris Fortunko wrote: >LUGs and Rolleis, > >Last night, I did a little thinking about the so-called standard focal >lengths. It is widely thought that 50mm is the standard, or normal, length >for 35mm cameras and 80mm is standard, or normal, for 6-by-6 (cm) cameras. Many people see a range for "normal" rather than just a single focal length. In 35mm, this is often somewhere between 40mm and 58mm. "Normal" in MF is a little more difficult because of all the different formats. There is a useful page on 35mm equivalence based on print size at the following URL: http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/philg/photo/lens-table.html >I believe that the 75mm focal length is normal, because Rolleiflex negatives >are cropped for printing to fit something like 8-by-10 or similar standard >format in Europe and elsewhere. If we assume the same for the 35mm format, >then there is an even stronger argument for the 40mm lens being considered >normal, particularly for snapshots. Speaking as someone "elsewhere," I don't crop most of my 6x6's when I print, so assuming 8x10 isn't necessarily appropriate, which is why the page above might be useful. And for slides, the first column always applies. Jeff Spirer Axiom Records: http://www.hyperreal.org/axiom/ Photos: http://www.hyperreal.org/~jeffs/gallery.html