for the want of 40 milimeters
This is a new Cosina Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 M mount lens mounted on my MP. Actually, I got it used, but it came with the original warranty which states that the original owner purchased it in January. January was only a few weeks ago. As you can guess, the lens is in like-new, dare I say cool-Mint condition. Refreshing!
40mm is a focal length that I want to keep working with, keep trying to figure out. This purchase was spurned in part by shooting with my crappy little 2mp camera that has a lens that is NOT 28mm,, which forced me to shoot differently that usual, and also from looking at lots of random and old snapshots. Back in the day average folks who wanted to take average photographs shot with little rangefinders with 40mm fast lenses. However by my standards (steadfast, stubborn, and prone to collapse on a whim) their average photographs are ABOVE average- I would call them fantastic.
Can I harness the power of the Normal and Natural 40mm focal length? Let’s find out.
On an arty- designy note, the CV 40mm lens is real pretty. It honestly sparkles in the light, or in this case, with a flash when being shot under a table in a sushi shop near Senshu University.
Hello,
I’ve been struggling with focal lengths and perspective as well. I once rejected the so-called ’standard’ 50mm (or in medium format, 80mm) focal length after being forced to use it and nothing else for over a year, because I only owned a 50mm lens. Then I became enamoured with wide-angle and tele lenses, because the former pulled the surroundings into the frame to envelope the viewer, and the latter could surgically extract the subject from everything else around it.
And now I’m waiting for an Olympus 35 SP (it’s on its way), and the fixed lens’s focal length is 42mm, which I think is closer to 50mm than 35mm. I don’t know if it’s any more “Normal and Natural” than 50mm, or it’ll suit me, but I think it’ll be challenging to try and explore this middle ground.
Clarence
PS: On a side note, I was taking photos at my college’s recent Japan Day, but I had completely forgot to bring the slide film. All I had were 3 rolls of Neopan. I thought it made everything look very valerian.
Comment by Clarence — 2/25/2006 @ 6:15 am
I thought I read somewhere that the human eye is about the same in focal length as a 43mm lens– Hence the Natural part. I too shot with (shoot with as well) a 28mm lens- and just recently a 135mm lens on my nikon. It is fun to try out new things and see what can be done with them. I have developed any rolls or printed any prints yet from this lens but will do so soon.
where was your college’s Japan Day? UNL?
Comment by John — 2/25/2006 @ 9:28 pm
That’s funny because whenever I imagine my own eyes as a camera’s lens, I think of 28mm lenses. Perhaps its the peripheral vision. I read somewhere else that if you wanted to simulate the perspective of a tele lens, you just had to look with one eye closed. Doesn’t really work for me.
It’s actually a university in London: UCL. I’ll be posting the shots on my flickr in a few days, once I scan the negatives. I was so disappointed. I made all those lovely yukata turn grey.
Comment by Clarence — 2/26/2006 @ 3:38 am