35mm as normal lens?

TheRook

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I don't really have a normal lens. Although I often have only one lens with me, it's not always the same one... whichever I feel like using that day. Sometimes a 35mm, sometimes a 50mm, and sometimes a 24mm. Occasionally one of my zoom lenses. I like to change things up.
 
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sissysphoto

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4 of the 357's and a little wad of aluminum foil. A bit tedious install, but works fine. The only 544 size 6v silver battery I know of is branded Exell . Looks very generic and Chinese. The 357 silvers are name brand and about 5 dollars for a 3 pack at the Dollar General store. I'm not about to order some generic looking and probably Chinese battery off the internet. And then wait for it to be shipped. Probably doesn't last 5 minutes, like their light bulbs.
 

albada

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Yeah a selenium cell would be great. And in 2018 about as good as the Rochelle Salt cartridge in an old phonograph.
I collect and repair Trip 35's, and I have found that most of them have good Selenium cells. I think Olympus used good quality cells, unlike many others.
Mark Overton
 

wiltw

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I'd never read that definition either. I have read either:
  • (definion A)
  • a focal length such that the view of objects through the viewfinder matches in size what the (other) open eye sees

This second 'definition' is a totally undefinable angle! The eye has a very narrow zone of 'acute' vision, The area of highest acuity covers a region of about two degrees around line of sight. . Our brain 'records' what the eye sees as it moves mostly horizontally to scan the scene, and 'splices' the many views into a composite image. Our peripheral vision is quite wide, but very poor for details...it mostly permits is to sense MOTION so that we are not suprised by animals of prey which might otherwise sneak up to make us their meal!

Paraphrasing what Wikipedia says (as a quick but sometimes quesionable source of accurate information) "Humans have about 180-degree forward-facing horizontal arc of their visual field, ...the vertical range of the visual field in humans is around 150 degrees." On the 135 frame it would take a 3mm FL to achieve the vertical angle! And a 1mm FL lens can only see an angle of 173 degrees horiontal, almost what human vision can see in its angle of view.

The central field of vision for most people covers an angle of between 50° and 60°. Within this angle, both eyes observe an object simultaneously. a 35mm FL provides a 55 degree horizontal AOV. Yet 35mm FL is certainly NOT ever stated as the 'normal' for 135 format!

From
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...rtical-b-horizontal-from-Heil92_fig10_2617390
"Monocular field of view (measured from central fixation) is 160 deg (width w) x 175 deg (height h). The total binocular field of view is 200 deg (w) x 135 deg (h)
One can see there is not much common agreement about the angles seen in monocular FOV or binocular FOV, as quoted from various sources! Equating a vague definition of angle of view into a FL equivalence is therefore folly.
 
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jimjm

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I just took a look at the battery installed in my ELW - it's a Duracell 6v lithium 28L. Comparing the metering accuracy to my other Nikon bodies with silver-oxides installed, I don't see any difference. I haven't bought one in a long time, but I see them on Amazon for around $10 each. Might be worth a try...
 

NB23

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28mm and be there.

For portraits dont go below 85mm. Except if you like big noses.
 

Theo Sulphate

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I made a reference to a "normal lens" being:

"a focal length such that the view of objects through the viewfinder matches in size what the (other) open eye sees"


This second 'definition' is a totally undefinable angle!
...
<calculations omitted>

Well, in the reference I gave, viewfinder magnification isn't taken into account either.

However, this "definition", when I've encountered it, isn't meant to be over-thought and subjected to optical calculations. Rather, it's a very simple and practical observation: put a lens on your SLR (preferably a zoom) change the focal length so the object you're looking at in the viewfinder, such as a tree, is the same size as you see with your other open eye. That focal length is your "normal" focal length in that situation - but only in the sense that it allows you to keep both eyes open while composing scenes.


Yet that is the very question asked as the topic of this thread. So perhaps 35mm is perfectly reasonable for someone to consider "normal".

For whatever it's worth, I have simply taken a zoom lens, put it on my camera, and looked around the room with the lens set at various focal lengths (I keep my other eye closed so as not to be influenced) - I then choose the view which I like the best. In my case, it's about 48mm for 135 format.
 
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Pioneer

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I don't have normal lenses.

I didn't know that photography had anything to do with "normal" or with specific focal lengths.

I have favorite lenses that consistently give me the results I like.

Some of them, like my 50/1.4 Super Tak, happen to be 50mm, but not all of them by a long shot.

Rain drops on roses
and whiskers on kittens
bright brass petzvals and warm pentax limiteds
black beautiful tessars at just the right openings
these are a few of my favorite things.

 

wiltw

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Yet that is the very question asked as the topic of this thread. So perhaps 35mm is perfectly reasonable for someone to consider "normal"..

...which is why I stated the eye's AOV... to show that the 'normal' lens AOV is NOT 'like the human eye...it is too narrow! Even measured on the diagonal the 50mm is not 50 degrees wide like the eye sees.

Trying to make the viewfinder apparent size of an object (like a tree) at a certain FL setting might indeed match size and even 'perspective' as seen by the eye, but then it fails to match the breadth of the scene seen by the eye.
 

Theo Sulphate

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...which is why I stated the eye's AOV... to show that the 'normal' lens AOV is NOT 'like the human eye...it is too narrow! Even measured on the diagonal the 50mm is not 50 degrees wide like the eye sees.

Right - we are in agreement on this. The customary terminology I find confusing: 50-58mm focal lengths have been called "normal", whose angle of view is too narrow compared the eye's angle of view, as you stated.

Trying to make the viewfinder apparent size of an object (like a tree) at a certain FL setting might indeed match size and even 'perspective' as seen by the eye, but then it fails to match the breadth of the scene seen by the eye.

Agreement again. But because the sizes match when both eyes are open, perhaps that's why the terminology "normal" was chosen for something like a 55mm lens.

I have no idea when the terminology "normal" was applied to various lens' focal lengths - it may well have started in the late1800's.

For the sake of the OP, I go back to my first post and say that whatever lens feels the most natural in typical situations is the one that should be used. If it happens to be 35mm - so be it.
 

Sirius Glass

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Normal has to do with the perspective that the eye sees. Based on that the diagonal was chosen as a basis.

Frankly I use 50mm as normal for 35mm, 80mm for 6x5 and 135mm for 4"x5" [although that is wide and it should be 150mm], then I scale from one focal length to another for an approximation.
 

RalphLambrecht

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thanks for the clarification. I think, you got something there.
 

albada

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I've done something similar: I look at the scene and select two spots which I think cover a normal width. Then I look through an SLR and zoom to cover that width, putting those two spots on the edges of the frame. I usually end up around 40mm.

Mark Overton
 
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sissysphoto

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OK, so now I've overhauled the first ELW with winder that I ever had in my hands. Did a good job. But after finding it was indeed a battery eater, I see no advantage in moving it to top spot and dethroning my trusty FT2. The FT2 doesn't need a battery to function, so if it goes dead at an inopportune time I can still get by, without being defaulted to one speed. As for my 35mm OC 2.0 I've had for 30-some years, I've rediscovered it all over again. It doesn't distort like the wider angles in ordinary use. And my family group photos don't have to always be chopped off at the chest in a small living room.And I don't have to back off out into the street to shoot a structure. I like getting new cameras to play with. "Play" as defined by doing a good job of restoring them. Work that I do very well. But it always seems when I actually go take B & W pictures, the Nikkormat FT2 is unbeaten. And on family visits, it's the F2 with MD-3 + MB-1 and my big Sunpak Thyristor, so I can pop off a few quick frames of a family group. Out of 3 or 4, certainly there's one where everybody in the picture had their eyes open.
 

Black Dog

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Trip 35 lens was very normal for me. So is normal zoom on SLR, 50 on FSU RF and 35 on Leica M .
Another happy Trip user-I find it very handy for both street and landscape work, plus the odd environmental portrait (along with my XA2). 35mm IMO gives you a useful slightly wider view without distorting things too much. I used to have a 40 mm 'pancake' for my Pentax LX, which was tiny ...an SLR which was the size of a compact with it fitted!
 

David T T

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35-40mm feels "normal" for me. As for what's "appropriate" its whatever works. I've done entire portrait sessions with a 24mm equivalent, but it was me paying a model or going for creepy vibes with a friend.
 

wiltw

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Then one needs to also consider the fact that the subject's apparent size is also affected by the viewfinder MAGNIFICATION, 50mm on two different camera models (even of the same brand) can be different simply because one is 0.71x and the other is 0.92x.
And then the 'nominal' 50mm lens might in reality be 49mm in one variant, and a few years later it is in reality 51mm. (We have known this to be true of the various versions of 50mm lens from Olympus made for different models of OM cameras.)
 

Ko.Fe.

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I had XA, it quit on me. Sold da Trip and 40/2 Rokkor in M.
But Canon EF 40 2.8 pancake is tempting. Lately I been having ball with EOS 300 again. It is camera which just keeps on working since purchased new. Almost, if not twenty years now.
 

Helge

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You forget to mention that retrofocus has the big added benefit of not needing correction for vignetting, making the wide lens at least a stop or two faster with retrofocus. Unless you are willing to accept heavy vignetting of course.
With lenses pressed close to the film plane you have trouble projecting your image with equal brightness and sharpness to the edges. Just like at projector or a CRT gun needs a certain distance to project a good picture of a certain size.
This is partly for reasons of increased anisotropy and partly because the film/sensor becomes more and more reflective as the angle of insidence decreases from the ideal of ninety degrees.
Even rangefinders, which usually has wide lenses as their specialty, needs retrofocus or correcting filters to deal with the falloff making the lens slower.
A curved film plane would help there, by the way.
Nikon had some very wide lenses out in the fifties and sixties, that worked with the mirror up and a special auxiliary finder. They didn't become popular for the reasons I just mentioned.

 
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removed account4

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this might be true, but i know sometimes parents and teachers have eyes on the back of their head. unfortunately the wiki article doesn' t take that into consideration !

all joking aside thanks for the 1.6x info that was pretty interesting !
 

benveniste

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I really liked the 40mm focal length of a Canon GIII 1.7. So perhaps it's a bit odd that the only 35mm prime I've ever owned is an ancient 35mm f/2.8 PC-Nikkor.

On the other hand, over the 30 years or so, I've owned either a 24-40mm, 20-35mm, or 17-35mm f/2.8 zoom. When any of them came out to play, chances are the 50mm f/1.8 stayed at home.
 

RalphLambrecht

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the perfect normal lens for 35mm is 43mm focal length or other wise the lens you normally use, which for me is either the 35 or 50mm. I can never decide which to take with me but, I usually end up with the 50.
 

Svenedin

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I would just use whatever focal lens suits you. That may well be different depending on what you are photographing. I can be all day with a 28mm on the camera and other days it will be a 50mm. Personally I don’t much care for 35mm (I do have one but it is little used) as it seems nether one nor t’other. My usual trio to carry around is 24 or 28, 50 and 100. For my OM cameras these are small lenses and they don’t weigh much either.
 

Sirius Glass

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In the days of the press cameras, most press photographers used wide angle lenses to move in on the subject and crop out the extraneous.
 

faberryman

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Perspective is not correct or incorrect. It is a choice. Select whatever perspective you deem appropriate for the image.
 
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