Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/09/22

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Subject: [Leica] How did 50mm become the "normal" lens for 35mm cameras?
From: hjwulff at gmail.com (Henning Wulff)
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2016 12:10:59 -0700
References: <D4087BFA.669E5%mark@rabinergroup.com>

I agree with that, Mark. But I would also add that circumstances and what 
you see/are looking at changes your personal 'angle of view' significantly. 
When I'm shooting wildlife or something else that is generally small and at 
a distance, due to my concentration I see more 'long focus' at that point 
with 200-400mm being a likely range. Similarly, when I'm shooting 
architecture, my eyes scan a lot and my concentration on that make an 'angle 
of view' are definitely a lot wider, especially with interiors. In fact, one 
of the cameras I used to really like a lot because it 'saw' what I saw was 
the Noblex series, with a 24/28mm equivalent vertical and 130? horizontal 
view without the 3d to 2d distortion in the extreme corners. Then again, 
when I'm just walking down the street, 35mm matches my main area of 
concentration while 85-105mm matches my focus when I'm talking to people one 
on one. That's what makes that a good portrait lens, in conjunction with the 
ability to get rid of distractions when using appropriate apertures. 50mm 
works with a small (2 or 3) group of people or concentrating on a specific 
event on the street.

Henning Wulff
hjwulff at gmail.com




On 2016-09-21, at 3:03 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote:

> Its just that the unaided eye does not really have a frame it looks 
> through.
> Its sees the whole room but is only concentrated on a small object in it.
> Its a tele mounted in a super wide.
> So its darned hard to impossible to state what the angle of the unaided eye
> is.  Its a sharp 180mm in a bokeh infused 12mm. I don't think we can round
> these two numbers off and come up with something. As I understand it some
> people use their peripheral vision differently.
> 
> 
> On 9/21/16 4:58 PM, "Lew Schwartz" <lew1716 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I believe that Bill C. is correct. It's relative to what you see with your
>> unaided eye.
>> 
>> 
>> -Lew Schwartz
>> 
>> On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 3:13 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> The normal camera lens now if you want to define normal as "most used by
>>> the
>>> most photogs most often for most stuff" is the wide angle zoom. Which has
>>> come to be the 18 to 35 zoom. This for photojournalists as well as
>>> commercial photogs and probably fine art dudes too. It started out being 
>>> a
>>> 20 to 35. But time flew.
>>> I had a 12-24 for my cropped Nikons which translates to that.
>>> Not sure if I'm going to get a 20mm 1.8 to go with my new 35 1.8 and 50 
>>> 1.8
>>> and do some quick back and forth running or go with the zoom.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Mark William Rabiner
>>> Photographer
>>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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/
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 



Replies: Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] How did 50mm become the "normal" lens for 35mm cameras?)
Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] How did 50mm become the "normal" lens for 35mm cameras?)
In reply to: Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] How did 50mm become the "normal" lens for 35mm cameras?)