Favorite Lens length

Favorite Lens length

  • 20mm

    Votes: 26 2.4%

  • 24mm

    Votes: 33 3.1%

  • 28mm

    Votes: 80 7.4%

  • 35mm

    Votes: 353 32.7%

  • 40mm

    Votes: 124 11.5%

  • 50mm

    Votes: 400 37.1%

  • 75mm

    Votes: 29 2.7%

  • 90mm

    Votes: 28 2.6%

  • 135mm

    Votes: 5 0.5%
  • Total voters
    1,078
The 50mm lens was and still is a "perfect lens". The M3 is great for such a lens, and so is the M6 0.85. Today, I used exclusively "normal" lenses with the Konica S2 and the Yashica GSN.

Raid
 
Kind of humorous to see a thread from before I joined suddenly become hot... ;)

Back ontopic, 50mm though I'm slowly learning to appreciate 28mm.

William
 
I spent three years trying to convince myself I was a 35mm guy. When I spent a few hours sorting prints recently I realised that over half my keepers were taken with a 50 even when I was using the 35 more. My 50's now get 70-80% of my shooting time.
 
My best work has been done with the 50mm so I voted for it. I enjoy using 35mm too - it is my current carry-around lens but the 50 has seen much more use.
 
Perhaps i am an exception but the only focal lenth that never worked for me is 35 mm: it is either to wide or not wide enough. I am a 50-75 mm guy ! Wide is 28mm .. and i do not use that very often!
 
My most used lens is 50mm, maybe out of convenience. I often yearn for a wider lens, but at the cost I think I can make do.

I always enjoyed 28mm, especially for street/architecture shots on my old SLR. Nothing like a 100-150mm for a portrait or two though :)
 
I'd be torn between 35 and 50, leaning a little more heavily towards 50.

But I've just got a 40, and I have some expectation that it'll become my go-to lens.
 
I think the 35mm on a rangefinder is just hard to beat for most situations. On an SLR a compact zoom of high quality is (I hate to admit it) invaluable for responsive photography.
 
Definitely the 40mm. It's the one I leave on my Voigtlanders, R3A and "T" most all of the time.
 

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It's a tossup between 28mm and 24mm, so I voted for the 28. I don't have either focal length in a rangefinder lens yet, though. Maybe for Christmas....

Funny thing is, up until a year or so ago I would have said that a 35mm lens borders on too wide and begged for a 50mm lens; now it seems confining at times.
 
Last edited:
Flyfisher Tom said:
The 50 gives just the right balance of breadth and intimacy.
Click to expand...

Perfect comment. I, too, wish I had thought of it.

William
 
I love the 40mm on my minilux, its really a creative focal length! wide enough to have space around the subject but closed enough to let you compose and disreguard bad elements. But I voted for 50mm as it is more polyvalent and alow closed portrait AND stay discreet without coming too close the subject...
 
shooting from the hip

shooting from the hip

The 35mm focal length has a unique feature that makes it admirably suited for shooting quickly and, if necessary, surrepticiously.

The width of the field of view of the lens on the 36mm dimension of the frame is equal to the distance between the film plane and the subject.

So if you are photographing a subject that is 3 meters tall from a distance of 3 meters, and you hold the camera vertically at about 1.5 meters from the ground, the subject will "just" fit within the frame.

Too, 1/30 sec exposures are possible with careful handholding, and my Summilux is efficient enough to gather light at night with street lighting. Of course 1/30 doesn't always cut it, so some other means of support (read anchoring) is sometimes necessary, like becoming part of the wall of a building, lamp post or parked vehicle..

And did I mention that it promotes a more personal involvement with the subject--forcing one to break out of the comfort zone and closer to and occassionally within the subject's comfort zone.
 
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