35mm or 50mm, which is your main lens?

JosephineIsJosephine · Mar 13, 2008

Interesting ...
I'm a beginner and my favorite lens (the one I use nearly always, I have to admit) is a Canon 135mm. (Not that I have much of a choice - I only own three, one of them being some crappy zoom lens.)

I wonder whether and when my opinion will change but at the moment I'm happy with it .

Josephine

mooseontheloose · Mar 13, 2008

When I first began shooting it was all with zooms (standard, then tele, then wide) and now it's all primes - 28mm, 50mm, 105mm. Of the three I use the 50mm the most, which is not surprising since I have two of them. ;-)

By the way, welcome to APUG Josephine!

rst · Mar 13, 2008

Hehe, it depends, sometimes it is a 35mm day and sometime a 50mm day but as soon as I put my 85mm on my Nikon it immediately is a 85mm day, no matter what it was before. It is just my preferred focal length.

Regards
-- Ruediger

film_guy · Mar 13, 2008

If I have enough money, I would definitely get Canon's 50mm 1.2L lens. The low-light shooting ability and bokeh from the lens looks beautiful.

Eric Rose · Mar 13, 2008

Neither. Either a 24mm or 28mm are my standard lenses but if they are not available then 35mm. I find the 50mm near useless for my style of photography.

timeslicer · Mar 14, 2008

My two favourite everyday lenses for my F4 and FA are 35mm and 105mm. When I used rangefinders the 85mm was on the camera all the time. Never use Zooms, whenever Ive bought them in the past I find them unsatisfying and too big. 35mm on the F4 is a really nice little street combination and great for strolling around small towns, as has already been said.

Resoman · Mar 14, 2008

For me, it's the 35mm f2 lens on my Konica Hexar AF. It's a fixed lens camera, so I don't have any choice in the matter, but the 35mm focal length is a major reason that this is my primary 35mm camera.

Gary,

East Snook, TX

Clay2 · Mar 15, 2008

Nikkor 50mmAI f/1.4 for outdoors,
Nikkor 35mmAI f/2.8 for indoor for flash, makes focusing F2AS easier with
the depth of field.
/Clay

Tom Hoskinson · May 10, 2008

Markok765 said:
I was wondering what APUGers use as their carry around lens?

Also, I opened the back of my SLR accidentally :<

Terrible things seem to happen to my camera, first my lightmeter, now this!

It had a great shot on it too!

Also, I only have 1 roll of film left, and a few rolls of MF for the holga.

Would it be funny to use a $20 camera on a almost $500 tripod?

Not funny - more likely to be necessary - - - .

About focal lengths - last weekend it was a 50mm f2 and a 50mm f1.5.

This weekend it is a 35mm f1.2.

Next weekend maybe it will be my 21mm f4 - - - who knows?

2F/2F · May 10, 2008

135mm for what I am currently doing.

Sandeha Lynch · May 11, 2008

43mm.

But not always.

elekm · May 11, 2008

43mm -- that sounds like a 1960s or 1970s Olympus.

My favorite is a 40mm Sonnar -- sort of the Goldilocks of focal lengths for me: Not too tele, not to wide, just right.

But I have a lot of fixed-lens rangefinders with 50mm lenses, and I like them a lot.

When I had my Bessa-R, I only had a 35mm lens, and that was an excellent combo.

My favorite three lens setup is a camera with a 35, 50 and 135 (or 85).

I don't use zooms too often. The last time I used a zoom with a film camera probably was around 2000, and before that I think maybe 1986.

dynachrome · May 11, 2008

35 or 50, which is main lens?

When I started out my standard lens was a 57mm f/.4. I didn't have another lens until about ten months later. That was a 28. I sensed that there was too much of a gap between those focal lengths but I was young and I wanted something different from the 57. A few years later I got a Vivitar 35mm f/1.9 and at that point a fast 35 became my favorite if I went shooting with one lens. I later got a 35mm f/2 Konica Hexanon and used it for many years. If I am shjting indorrs and outdoors, a 35 is my main lens. If I will be outdoors, like on a hike, I will take a 50 or 55mm macro lens. It's wide enough for shots taken at a great distance and very handy for close-up shots too.

dynachrome · May 11, 2008

I took a Canon F-1 with some Kodacolor 200 in it to shoot some pictures this afternoon. The sun was in and out of the clouds, mostly out. I was going to take just the 50/3.5 New FD but the 35/2 FD SSC was on it already. I threw a 100/2.8 New FD into my jacket pocket just in case. Most shots were with the 35.

Dennis S · May 12, 2008

lens

28-90mm f2.8 - 16 New Vivitar Zoom on Canon A-1 Shooting Delta 400 @ 200 With #25 Red & Circular Polarizor (in the pocket) is what I travel with 80% of the time

k_jupiter · May 12, 2008

So Markok.

Who gives a good damn?

Shoot what you want. If you want a wide angle format, shoot the 35. If you want a 50mm perspective, shoot that.

Come up with more interesting technical questions that will stimulate your photographic knowledge base. Like what times for developing FP4 in Rodinal 1+100 for palladium printing? I know you are in high school but come on...

tim in san jose

2F/2F · May 12, 2008

k_jupiter said:
Like what times for developing FP4 in Rodinal 1+100 for palladium printing?

If you ask me, this falls into the "who gives a damn" category way more than the original question. There is nothing weird about being curious how others work. There is a huge conceptual error, however, in thinking that anyone else's development times are worth anything.

BobbyR · May 12, 2008

One person below mentioned a zoom, how many here often grab a camera with zoom so as to be ready for what ever comes rather than a bag full of lenses?

k_jupiter · May 12, 2008

2F/2F said:
If you ask me, this falls into the "who gives a damn" category way more than the original question. There is nothing weird about being curious how others work. There is a huge conceptual error, however, in thinking that anyone else's development times are worth anything.

To each his own. I have been dealing with Markok a lot longer than you.

I must live with my Huge Conceptual Error. The shame. *L*

tim in san jose

telyt · May 12, 2008

560mm. I think I've got a 35 and a 60 somewhere in my gear bag.

Doug Herr
http://www.wildlightphoto.com

GeoffHill · May 18, 2008

BobbyR said:
One person below mentioned a zoom, how many here often grab a camera with zoom so as to be ready for what ever comes rather than a bag full of lenses?

I would grab my 17-40 f4 L for wandering about, and use about 35mm ish most of the time. However, this weekend, i Had a 50mm f1.8 on an eos 3000v (rebel k2) which is about the lightest canon AF combo possible, and I kind of likes its pocketability, Somthing ill defintely be using more i think

Pentax_Junkie · May 18, 2008

90% of the time I shoot with a "normal" lens on my camera. If I'm shooting 35mm it is a 50mm, if 120 I use a 80mm and for 4X5 I shoot a 127mm. I don't know why - but I like to capture what I see without too much camera trickery. Although - when I'm not shooting normal lenses I love 28mm or 16mm on a 35mm camera and a 65mm on my MF cameras.

nsurit · May 18, 2008

I will go through periods of only using one lens and the one that is currently on the front of my OLympus OM 2S is the 85mm f2 Zuiko. It is one of my favorites. Bill Barber

k_jupiter · May 19, 2008

Will this thread never die? I feel like I am reading Popular Photography circa 1978. "Open up your vision... shoot with a 28mm lens! Story on page 37"
(and of course on page 38 is the advertisement for a Spirotone 28mm lens, only 27.95 in all popular mounts)

tim in san jose

MattKing · May 19, 2008

k_jupiter said:
Will this thread never die? I feel like I am reading Popular Photography circa 1978. "Open up your vision... shoot with a 28mm lens! Story on page 37"
(and of course on page 38 is the advertisement for a Spirotone 28mm lens, only 27.95 in all popular mounts)

tim in san jose

Tim:

I think it is a good thread, because of who the question came from (Marko, a young photographer) and because of the implied but unspoken addition at the end of the question ("and why").

Sort of an examination of what preconceptions we have about what makes a good photograph.

Matt

35mm or 50mm, which is your main lens?

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