What is your most used focal length?

I got into photography in the mid-60's when there were still raging debates about SLR vs rangefinder and 8-track vs cassette, as well as the timeless Ford vs Chevy. And serious color was transparencies; only snapshooters used color print film.

SLRs were a rising surge of popularity, reveling in telephotos. Wide angle SLR lenses were exotic, large, and expensive. Everyone had a standard 50, 55, or 58mm lens, plus a 135.

My first extra lens was a 105mm Spiratone with a preset diaphragm for my Pentax H3. It was replaced by a 135mm Steinheil. I stuck with Pentax lenses after that.

In 67 I got a used Leica body and new 35mm Summicron, my first wide angle, and the only one for some years. I came to love the 85mm on the Pentax. My usual "street stalker" kit then was the M2 & 35mm on a short strap around my neck, with the Pentax & 85mm on a longer strap hanging below it, both with Tri-X. This was good for fast reaction to varying needs on the street.

I thought of the 35mm as a wide-normal. I never had anything much wider until recent years with the Cosina-Voigtlander gear, and 45mm lenses in medium format. As my view of the world has grown wider, I've come to even more strongly consider 35-40mm as normal, and favor their medium-format equivalents too.

But I certainly don't hesitate to venture forth with only a 25-28mm. There just seems to be a greater involvement or immediacy or intimacy with the subject when you get in good and close!
 
I like 50mm.

I really like wide angle, but I like it for the weird up-close distorted perspective. (I have a 21mm on my R2)

For normal shooting though, I like the 50. I want to get a 35mm though -- I haven't used a 35mm lens since I was fifteen or sixteen, but I like the idea of a slightly wider angle than the 50.
 
As for me, I'm still trying to find my 'voice' if you know what I mean, so I use a bit of everything. I find (so far) that if I don't have a particular plan for what I'm going out to shoot, I take a 50mm, a 35mm (28mm if I'm packing an SLR), and a 85/90mm.

If I know what I'm going to be shooting, then probably I'll take something more suited to my subject matter, but I may bring along others for whatever else I may find.

Unlike the others here, I'm not as enamored of wide-angle lenses, and I don't consider 35mm to be a 'normal' lens - it's wide to me. I use a wide lens when I have to - to get the subject into the frame. At least, that's what I'm finding at the moment - I'm willing to change!

Also unlike everyone else here, I guess I find myself reaching for a 90mm or 135mm more often than anything else. Why? I'm not sure. I guess it lets me bring in a level of detail in my subjects that I'm happy with, makes it a bit easier to render background objects out-of-focus (which I love to do), and I find I'm more interested in minutia and details of objects than their overall shape or form in many cases.

Of course, if I'm shooting landscapes, I want wide. On my Canon SLRs, I have a nice older Vivitar 19mm that is amazing. I'm planning on getting a Canon FD-to-LTM adapter so that I can mount this beauty on my Bessa R - no need for rangefinder coupling, nearly everything is in focus with a good guess at distance.

So, I'd have to say 'it depends' but overall, I find myself with a 90mm lens mounted more often than nearly anything else!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
My RF lens choices are 35mm & 50mm at the mo and I like both focal lengths maybe leaning more towards the 35mm. I like wide to standard lenses most of the time (inc for SLR's) and to round out my kit I'm very tempted by a 28/1.9 and/or 21/4 Voigtlander.

I guess my ideal one lens kit would be a 35mm f2 or faster.
 
Well, I only have the 50 and 90 for my M3 so, as far as rangefinders go, it's 50. On the other hand, I generally use a Nikon F with my Leica and that has a 35 and a 135. If I'm using this kit, I probably take as many 135 as 50 pictures.
 
I hate to choose, but when pressed I favor the 35mm slightly, but the 21mm and a fast 50mm (f/1.5) are right in there with it. The one lens I do not seem to use much with my rangefinders is the 85mm, and now I have to wonder why?

Doug
 
For years with my Nikon SLR it was the 85mm and to a lesser extent the 50mm. Last year I got my first rangefinder and first 35mm, and I use that lens quite a bit, but now I use the 50mm even more. The 35 makes the 50 seem like a mild telephoto, at least on the rangefinder. Maybe it has something to do with the framelines in a rangefinder viewfinder...
 
Because all of my rangefider's are of the fixed lens type, I am stuck at around 35mm to 42mm lengths. But when street shooting with an SLR with a zoom or fixed prime, I am uaually at 28mm's. Love that length. Brings you and the viewer in close to the environment.

Russ
 
I'm coming in pretty late on this thread, but I'll spew forth anyway...

I tend to use the longer focal lengths between 100-200mm. I like the tight view those lengths provide. Also, I shoot a LOT of macro and the Minolta uses the 200mm length as the macro lens (well, you can use the wide end at 28mm for macro as well but I don't like the barrel distortion on this lens at that length).

That said, now that I'm flirting with film more often I'm trying to take myself back to the normal lens and really work on my "Nike zoom" technique... definitely forces me to bust out of my routine and "see" the shot.

Doug K.
 
Without a doubt, the 28mm length. Enen when street shooting with a 28-90 zoom, I always try to get in close @ 28mm's.

Russ
 
I can easily live with just a 50mm lens. For me, what I shoot and how I shoot it, it is perfect. Next would come a 35mm, I could live with that too, but would choose the 50 if limited to just 1 lens.
 
For the last year it's been the 85mm f1.8 that's had my heart. But with the new 35mm (J12) lens on the Zorki 4K, I may have to change my style and experiment with WA more.
 
All my fixed lense RF's are 40-50 mm, I do have a 35mm on the Kiev.

Any wide angles are usually on my SLR's, but by the most often used focal length on my Dreb is a 500mm :).
 
I'll say one lens I don't use is the 50.
I use Nikkor 55 macro sometimes.35 f2 was on F3 all the time.
A Hexar Silver,also 35mm. A 28 2.8 EF on one EOS.
I'd like to try that Fujinon 38mm 2.6 on Klasse (Rollei AFM35 in the West) badly.
That Silver w 35mm f2 is really something.Smooth and deep.
 
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