> > Not really. The fact that the 50 has a field of view more like a 75 is > > created by cropping, not optical zooming. In effect, the > > less-than-24x36 image sensor size means that there's a permanently > > enabled digital zoom feature on the camera. > > > > All you're doing is cropping. The perspective-flattening effects of > > longer optics aren't going to come into play (or will they? maybe I'm > > the confused one).
This is explained in one of Ansel's books (The Camera?). A lens of a given focal length projects an image of the same size regardless of film format. For example, if a 300mm lens on a 4x5 camera projects a subject 1 inch high on the film, then a 300mm lens on a 35mm camera will project the same subject 1 inch high. The difference being that of course on the 4x5 it would take up only about 1/4 of the film, while on 35mm it would be nearly full frame. Bill
