28mm vs 35mm

[der.chris.tian]

Hi,

okay... this sounds like a dumb question, but... what do your prefer for street and
reportage stuff? I own a M4-2 with a 35mm color-skopar and somehow the idea
comes up to sell this gear for a R4A with a Ultron 28mm. I don't why.

Actually, I have the feeling that with 35mm I am not "in the situation" - almost
like working with a tele. With 28mm it seems one is involved. What do you think
about that? Is this maybe some kind of "trend trap" I'm going to fall into, or what? ; D

Just to bring up an example:

This is shot with the 35mm lens and although there are some lines, which should
increase a feeling of depth and perspective, it doesn't really looks wide-angle to me.
I'd just like to see some other positions just to get some more input. Do you know
this kind of issue?

 

[cmogi10]

I'm not a big fan of the 28mm focal length.
I feel like its not wide enough for me to use as a I would a wide angle, and two wide to use as I would a "normal" lens.
21 or 24 is a much better wide and 35 50 and 75 do everything else.
28 doesn't fit for me.

So I say 35 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I have the R4A + 28 Ultron combination. I like it a LOT out on the street. I like the way the 28 takes in enough of the scene to really make it feel like "the street". I tried the 35 for awhile but it seemed to crop out too much. By the way, I understand that Gary Winogrand's favorite focal length was 28.

 

[jja]

I'm a committed 35/50 shooter, so you are going to get a very biased answer from me. In the shot you posted, part of the narrowing that is occurring is that 1/3 the frame is cropped by the shelf in the foreground. If you want more "depth" (not totally clear what you mean), maybe get closer and look for interesting background to incorporate. Also, has this shot already been cropped, as the dimensions don't look like a regular 35mm film ratio?

The suggestion to go wider, maybe w/ a Color Skopar 25/4, is a good one.

 

[jja]

To follow up: I really like Jamie's reply. I think ultimately you have to take the view you are comfortable with. They don't make 28's for nothing, after all.

 

[der.chris.tian]

cmogi10,
thanks.


Jamie,
nice to hear that. Thx.


jja.

nice to hear that, too. The thing with the background wasn't in my mind before.
The Picture isn't cropped at all. The little black border you see is actually the ground material.
25mm is too wide for me, though.

 

[kshapero]

I use the 35 as my "normal lens. If I need more I go to my 21.

 

[ferider]

It's very personal, but for me it's the ideal moderate wide.

40 = one eye'ed perspective
28 = two eye'ed perspective

Plus, if you need to crop to 8x10 (hate this format), 28 becomes a 35,
and 40 a 50, not so bad either ...

Roland.

 

[der.chris.tian]

Ferider,

it's for film - so no cropping there. But anyay... as you mention it: can one add an adapter in order to attach these rangefinder lenses on a m42 body e.g.?

 

[ferider]

Hi Christian,

with 8x10 I meant 8x10 inch print format (about US letter size), starting from 35mm negative. Difficult to get any other frames in that approximate size here, or A4 sized printer paper. Or "normal" sized albums ... Forces me to crop about 20% on the long side .... :bang:

Usually the registration distances of LTM and M lenses is too short to adapt them to SLR and keep infinity focus.

Gruss,

Roland.

 

[der.chris.tian]

Ferider,

I see. And why don't you just leave some white space around? Hm.
Registration distances too short... okay then.

 

[VinceC]

I do most of my work with a 28/50 combo. If I'm carrying a camera bag instead of an extra lens in my pocket, then I'll add a fast 35 for low-light work and a 105 for the long end.

I shoot about 70 percent of my pictures with a 28mm. It shows the environment but you can still get in fairly tight without distorting someone's face.

You're quite right about being part of the scene. With the 28, I'm at a comfortable distance. With 35mm or 50mm, I have to stand way back.

 

[vrgard]

You're quite right about being part of the scene. With the 28, I'm at a comfortable distance. With 35mm or 50mm, I have to stand way back.

I think Vince's comment about proves the point that we all have a slightly different view of things. I find that I have to stand too close with a 28 yet the 35 is just right. Put another way, as I've said in a post from long ago, I find that with the 28 I oftentimes end up with way too much surrounding my subject because I just don't get close enough to make it work well for me. Note that I'm talking here about people shots on the street rather than architecture or landscape shots.

-Randy

 

[Leica All Day]

Hello Christian...I use a 28mm elmarit often in my photography and I am quite pleased with it...I do feel that you need to get "in the situation" with a 28mm to fill the space, but the rewards are worth it (at least in my opinion)...Then again, I don't have much experience with a 35mm and the times that I have used a 35mm, I wasn't comfortable with it...then again, I probably didn't give it enough time....I guess my point is, a 28mm works for me, and maybe it will for you as well, I guess it all depends on the photographer and his/her style.

cheers, Michael

 

[lZr]

I do not know in advance which lenses will adapt to my project but after checking the results I redo the work with the appropriate lenses. Street shots are final, but focal length for this kind of work is 35 or 50 mm for me

 

[VinceC]

I find that comfortable working distance is something that changes and evolves over time. When I began photography 25 years ago, my constant and favorite lens was the 50mm. I liked its painterly perspective while standing a bit back from the scene. These days, I like being closer and am usually at a distance of 3 to 4 feet with a 28mm lens.

 

[PetarDima]

Winogrand used 28mm on most of his shots 🙂 - one of his students showed him photos taken with 20mm lens - he didn't like it because of distortion.

 

[BillBingham2]

I felt that way about the 21 Elmarit too, to much distorition. I love the 25mm CV, very low on the distortion scales and sharp. At f4 she's slower than the f1.9, but much smaller. Never having owned any of the CV 28's it's only a guess but I think any of them would perform close to as well as the 25/4.

B2 (;->

 

[VinceC]

I love the 25mm focal length but am not overly fond of separate finders. That's why I stick with my 28mm.

 

[Bill Blackwell]

If taking two steps back is not an option, then get a 28. Buy one and try it for a while and see if you really like it. But be aware that if you're into (people) street style shooting, a 28 will distort faces much more than a 35 will.