----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Studdert" Subject: Re: Coming to terms with *ist D lens mag factor?
> The quick assessment of angular lens coverage is more important to most any > photographer than absolute focal length. Lets face it 95% of the population can > relate to AOV as a function of 35mm lens FL. IMHO It's not dumbing down it's > simply current convention. And yes I do think of my medium format lenses in > terms of equivalent 35mm lens coverage, it's call normalization. I suspect that I am in the minority with Shel on this one. I have always thought in terms of what a particular lens will do on a certain format, rather than what a particular lens would do on a different format. My method is to look at a scene and pick a lens that will suit the scene, without relating back to a format I may not be using at the moment. I will look at what I want to photograph and say to myself, I want the 210mm lens (if I am shooting 4x5 that day). What I will not say to myself is "that would look great with a 50mm lens, but I am shooting 6x7, so I guess I had better grab the 105 instead". IMHO, this is what the equivalency factor is doing, and I do believe that thinking this way inhibits using a format to it's best advantage. A 50mm lens 0n 35mm may be equivalent to a 105mm lens on 6x7, or a 150mm lens on 4x5 in terms of absolute angle of view, but that is the only valid comparison. Every other imaging factor will differ. William Robb
