50mm lens

CMoore · May 11, 2016

I did a search for 50mm, but i mostly find discussions about the different Brand of lens.
My question is Why/How did the 50mm become the "standard" lens that came with a new camera body.?
Thank You

Dali · May 11, 2016

I vote for Leitz on this one.

Thomas Bertilsson · May 11, 2016

My guess is that since 50mm, in the 135 format, is neither wide angle nor telephoto. It offers no magnification and is probably one of the less expensive designs to make available with a relatively wide maximum aperture (which makes it a fair bit easier to focus an SLR or shoot in low light conditions). For example, you see a lot of f/1.4 50mm lenses, but relatively fewer 35mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.4.

Just some random thoughts, with no scientific explanation or market knowledge actually known.

Ian Grant · May 11, 2016

It's close to what you see naturally, OK some of us have good peripheral vision but we scan the edges and concentrate on the centre.

I have a Tamron 17mm lens, my wife decided it was the only lens she needed for her Pentax ME Super, then complained when she got her prints back - quite a few films, everything was so small .

It goes back many years, early RR lenses were comparatively a bit longer compared to 50/55mm with 35mm and you can't always move far enough back to get your image, so we ended up with roughly 150mm with 5x4, 300mm with 10x8, 75/80mm with cx6 and 50/55mm with 35mm.

Ian

blockend · May 11, 2016

The diagonal of the 35mm film frame is about 43mm, and I find 40mm a more natural perspective than 50mm. When film compacts were common focal lengths around 45mm were normal.

Thomas Bertilsson · May 11, 2016

blockend said:
The diagonal of the 35mm film frame is about 43mm, and I find 40mm a more natural perspective than 50mm. When film compacts were common focal lengths around 45mm were normal.

I used to love my 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens for my Pentax cameras, for that reason.

Alan Johnson · May 11, 2016

Barnack tried a 50mm Tessar in the process of developing the Leica prototype (see under Leitz Elmar).
It appears he liked that focal length as he set Max Berek to work and the first Elmar appeared.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessar
From Rogliatti, "Leica the first 50 years" referring to the start of production:
"Also in the first year two different lenses were fitted on the cameras which were first the Leitz Anastigmat followed by the Elmax and later in 1926 the Elmar....All these lenses had the same focal length,50mm......."

CMoore · May 11, 2016

I see...all those reasons make sense.
Funny though, about the 40mm-50mm being the lens that closely "mimics' what the human eye sees.....that is, most often, Not The Reason a "photographer" takes a picture.
Seems like we are usually trying to Change/Manipulate/Crop the photo.
Seems like guys carry just about every lens BUT a 50. Seems like I prefer a 35 and an 85.
Would be interesting to keep track and see how often the 50 gets used.

mesaboogie · May 11, 2016

CMoore said:
I see...all those reasons make sense.
Funny though, about the 40mm-50mm being the lens that closely "mimics' what the human eye sees.....that is, most often, Not The Reason a "photographer" takes a picture.
Seems like we are usually trying to Change/Manipulate/Crop the photo.
Seems like guys carry just about every lens BUT a 50. Seems like I prefer a 35 and an 85.
Would be interesting to keep track and see how often the 50 gets used.

I am sure it wasn't "photographers" in the artist sense of the word that determined this.

baachitraka · May 11, 2016

My standard is 28mm for street photography and 85/135mm for portraits.

ic-racer · May 11, 2016

Most 35mm cameras give an image of 24x36mm. Although the diagonal of that is about 42mm, if it were a square 36mm x 36mm the diagonal is 50mm.

There are a few 35mm cameras that have 40mm lenses, but yes, 50mm is the most common lens found on a 35mm camera.

For me, I can't use it [50mm lens] so I have a box of them.

blockend · May 11, 2016

Each focal length has its own visual perspective, and the 50mm is as useful as any other, and it has its advantages and shortcomings. A 50 brings a subject close, but only sharply depicts close and distance objects at small apertures, which has consequences for shutter speed and image softening. A 28 provides lots of depth of field, but if the subjects are not be distant and remote, the photographer has to move in close. An 80 brings the subject close, but isolates it from its surroundings. A 50 isn't a boring focal length, but it isn't more "realistic" than any other.

ic-racer · May 11, 2016

Focal length is independent of perspective. Perspective is dependent on the lens position with respect to the subject.

MattKing · May 11, 2016

ic-racer said:
Focal length is independent of perspective. Perspective is dependent on the lens position with respect to the subject.

This is correct, but focal length influences perspective because one tends to stand closer to the subject with shorter lenses and farther away with longer lenses.

50 mm lenses provide a comfortable field of view and reasonable perspective at comfortable working distances for snapshots. They also are straightforward and relatively inexpensive to manufacture in quantity. They don't usually create problems with mirrors in SLRs, and it is relatively easy to pair them with lifesize viewfinders in rangefinders.

Ricardo Miranda · May 11, 2016

MattKing said:
50 km lenses

I would like to see one of these.
One, even a single one, please.

MattKing · May 11, 2016

Ricardo Miranda said:
I would like to see one of these.
One, even a single one, please.

I think you will need to check with the bird photography specialists for that!

fstop · May 11, 2016

Ricardo Miranda said:
I would like to see one of these.
One, even a single one, please.

I'm sure NASA has one.

ic-racer · May 11, 2016

A photographer is not expected to move [and change perspective] if he or she changes focal length. Commonly one may change focal length so as to not have to move.

In my opinion a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera is certainly NOT a comfortable angle of view. It sucks.

50mm is less expensive to manufacture than 40mm?

Thomas Bertilsson · May 11, 2016

ic-racer said:
A photographer is not expected to move [and change perspective] if he or she changes focal length. Commonly one may change focal length so as to not have to move.

In my opinion a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera is certainly NOT a comfortable angle of view. It sucks.

50mm is less expensive to manufacture than 40mm?

Funny how different we all are. I use a 50mm or 55mm lens 90% of the time. 85mm and 35mm the rest of the time.

Chan Tran · May 12, 2016

I change focal length for framing.
I move for perspective.
It's 2 different things so I have to do both not one or the other.

MattKing · May 12, 2016

Chan Tran said:
I change focal length for framing.
I move for perspective.
It's 2 different things so I have to do both not one or the other.

I ask rhetorically: and if you have but one lens only, what do you do?

The original question was asking about 50mm as the "standard" lens. It seems to me that a fair answer has to assume that you are to have only one focal length available.

CMoore · May 12, 2016

Chan Tran said:
I change focal length for framing.
I move for perspective.
It's 2 different things so I have to do both not one or the other.

That would be my vague understanding.
I am definitely new to photography, but if I move in closer, and everything is cool, that's fine. But if there is too much "stuff" in the frame after moving, then a different lens is called for.
Isn't that why a 85-105 lens is popular for portraits.?
You can't just move closer with a 50.....

John Bragg · May 12, 2016

When I started out in Photography, a long time ago, I found the 50mm to be boring. I shot a lot of the time with 28mm or short telephoto, but my interests have changed and I now find the 50mm to be highly underrated and very versatile. Fast enough to be hand held in low light, wide apperture to usefully blurr backgrounds, long enough to serve as a portrait lens and wide enough to take environmental shots. These days I could survive happily with just a nifty fifty for most of the time. In fact some of my very best shots have been taken with a 50mm.

onre · May 12, 2016

I seem to take more than three out of four of my photographs with a 50 or 58 mm lens. For what I do, shorter focal lengths usually cause situations where I'm getting too much in the frame and can't move closer. I've tried and tried to use my 28 mm lenses but have only found them useful for close-ups and occasional street corners where you just can't back up through a building. With a normal lens, I can visualize the photographs in my head, then just walk to the right spot, look into the viewfinder and see just what I thought I'd see. I thought this would be just a matter of learning for 28 mm as well, but it doesn't seem to fall in place. I believe this is highly individual. I have a pretty good peripheral vision, so the field of view of a normal lens is by no means same as my eyes' field of view, but it just matches with something inside my brain in a way that other focal lengths don't.

So, if whoever designed the first Leicas and Exaktas happened to have a similarly "wired" brain, they'd also feel the focal length of about 50 mm to be satisfying, and thus create optics with that focal length.

Also, there's the historical side. For 6x9 format cameras, something around 10,5 to 13 centimeters was a very common focal length at the time. This would equal 42 to 52 millimetres in 35 mm. This was probably what the designers were used to, and might have been one reason behind the choice.

Ian Grant · May 12, 2016

If you look at early 6.5x9 and 9x12 cameras they had the option of two focal length standard lenses, 6.5x9 was a 105mm or 120mm, and 9x12 135mm or 150mm which isroughly equivalent to a 45mm or a 50mm on a 35mm camera.

There was a 40mm f6.3 CZJ Tessar that would cover 35mm so cost wasn't the issue, however with the degree of enlargement required for even modest size prints from 35mm negatives corner and edge quality would probably have been an issue. This would be why Leitz opted for a 50mm lens.

Ian

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