Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/09/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My first SLR lens in the early 70's was the Nikon 45mm 2.8 GN which I still have. It was my only lens for many years on my just out F2. Cosina updated it as was it was no longer being made and it became a dozen years ago the 45mm 2.8 P Nikkor lens. It first came out in Silver and is a manual focus lens. I got that lens and used it extensively though needed to stop down a couple or could not be assured of nailing the focus with the non ground glasses on DSLR cameras so it was in effect for me a 5.6 lens for me which has its limits even with 6400 iso's. But it was a pancake and a camera could be slipped into a coat pocket which is as much of the basic Leica concept as you can get. What we call half frame now 72 on a roll 24x18mm was first called single frame as its movie film and that's the format very close to films being shot then and later. The idea of doubling the frame for stills to 24x36 was very much basic part of the Leica concept the numbers they had crunched depended on it.. Other early 35mm film camera before Leica had a mask which was removable so you could go between the two formats. But the smaller format was not going to make it for Oskar Barnack and Max Berek. There was no removable mask it was double frame or nothing. 24x36mm The lens on the UR- Leica Prototype found in the museum is the Leitz 42mm f/4.5 Milar. A variety of focal lengths in the 40 to 60mm range were considered from what I can make out before the 50mm focal length started it all. As time wore on double frame started being called single frame for the stills guys but I had some slide mounts I bought in the 1970's which said double frame on them . Wess I think. From a very old camera store on Manchester street in Maplewood Missouri with wall to wall walnut cabinets and dark lighting. Adam! by the way some motion picture films were shot in the 24x36 DF format with the film going through the camera horizontally instead of up and down. On 9/16/16 5:45 PM, "Adam Bridge" <abridge683 at fastmail.com> wrote: > Let me back up a moment. I was taught that a ?normal? lens is one whose focal > length matches the diagonal of the film/sensor frame. For 35mm film as shot > by, say, a Leica M6, that turns out to be 43mm - midway between a wide 35mm > lens and a 50mm lens which I have sometimes seen called a ?short telephoto? > perhaps even by B&H. Now as I remember from my cinema days 35mm movies are > shot at the same aspect ratio as still but have different dimensions since > they are shot with the long edge running across the film instead of the > short > edge as is the case for full frame 35mm film photography (except, I?m > guessing, half-frame 35mm but now I?m totally out of school having never > seen > one of these cameras. That?s where I?m coming from. And wondering why we > don?t see more 40-something focal length lenses. I know that there 48?s out > there? Nikon maybe from the old days? Mark Rabiner, you talked about this > at > some point, I > think. Thanks Adam _______________________________________________ Leica > Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more > information -- Mark William Rabiner Photographer http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/