Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Neil, Not trying to speak for Buzz but only for myself, a valid point I get from what he wrote might be exemplified as follows: if you take a photo with a 15mm lens, you could certainly crop it to print the identical area covered by another photo taken with the same camera pointed in the same direction but with a 400mm lens. Yet the two pictures would not be at all the same. In the cropped 15mm photo, the foreground would be exaggeratedly close and background objects exaggeratedly distant, whereas in the 400mm photo the distance between foreground and background objects would be exaggeratedly compressed. I seem to recall hearing (or reading) somewhere that, for 35mm photography, an 85mm lens (or something in that neighborhood) produces pictures with a foreground-background relationship approximately the same as what's seen by the human eye. I think I'm right about that, but someone please correct me (i.e., educate me) if I were wrong. Art Peterson Alexandria, Virginia -----Original Message----- From: Beddoe, Neil [mailto:nbeddoe@lehman.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 7:32 To: 'Leica Users Group'; 'Leica Users Group' Subject: RE: [Leica] 50mm lenses should be compulsory. " Lenses of different focal lengths do have characteristics, based on their focal lengths, other than getting more or less in the frame." I disagree. Take a picture with a 50mm lens (or even a 21mm lens) and crop to the middle of the picture and you've got the same shot you would have got from the same spot with a 90mm lens(grain and DOF excluded). You are right about my choice of lens though ( at least it made for a provocative subject line). I'm sure that if my M6 had come with a 35mm I'd be raving about that. The point is that the lens you use is usually much less important than where you stand. Neil I am pleased that the 50mm lens worked for you, especially when it was your only lens. However, I submit for your consideration that its being a 50mm lens had far less to do with your success than the discipline enforced by using only one lens. It could have been a 35mm, it could have been a 90mm, but it is the fact of having only one lens that made you work harder at each picture you took. Buzz Hausner -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+buzz.hausner=verizon.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+buzz.hausner=verizon.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Beddoe, Neil Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 5:49 AM To: 'Leica Users Group' Subject: [Leica] 50mm lenses should be compulsory. As everyone knows, you don't alter the viewpoint when you switch to a wider or longer lens, you just get more or less in the frame. In most cases, you can do this by walking forwards or backwards and at the same time see what changing perspective does to your shot which is much more interesting than just optically cropping the photograph. I like feet but I hate zooms. Neil _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- This message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. This communication is for information purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy any financial product, an official confirmation of any transaction, or as an official statement of Lehman Brothers. Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. Therefore, we do not represent that this information is complete or accurate and it should not be relied upon as such. All information is subject to change without notice. _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information