Viewfinder magnification: It seems to me that when the viewfinder magnification is specified it's based on the 50mm lens regardless of format. I can understand using the 50mm for the...

BebuLamar

It seems to me that when the viewfinder magnification is specified it's based on the 50mm lens regardless of format. I can understand using the 50mm for the 35mm format but why use the same for smaller or larger format?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Are you talking about equivalent focal length and angle of view?

http://photographylife.com/equivalent-focal-length-and-field-of-view

If not, can you re-write your question in a different way, please? I'm sooo confused

Leitz Loc: Solms

BebuLamar wrote:

It seems to me that when the viewfinder magnification is specified it's based on the 50mm lens regardless of format. I can understand using the 50mm for the 35mm format but why use the same for smaller or larger format?

Viewfinder magnification is the magnification of the viewfinder, with or without a lens.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

BebuLamar wrote:

It seems to me that when the viewfinder magnification is specified it's based on the 50mm lens regardless of format. I can understand using the 50mm for the 35mm format but why use the same for smaller or larger format?

I found several references regarding the 50mm lens standard for viewfinder magnification.
It seems to have something to do with the 50mm lens (on a 35mm camera) giving ~the same view as the human eye.
That is with the lens focused at infinity.
Like a lot of camera specs, this one goes way back to the 35mm film camera days and was used to give consumers an idea how much of the image hitting the film they would see in the (optical) viewfinder. The number was a ratio with 1:1 being ideal but never achieved (IIRC) so you would see numbers like .95, etc.
The smaller the number, the more likely you were to find something unexpected along the edges of your slide or negative :)

BebuLamar

What I meant is that for example from the Nikon website the viewfinder specifications are

For the D5: 0.72x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)
For The D500: 1.0x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)

Why don't they use a shorter lens when measure the magnification of the D500 like a 35mm lens for example?

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

BebuLamar wrote:

What I meant is that for example from the Nikon website the viewfinder specifications are

For the D5: 0.72x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)
For The D500: 1.0x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)

Why don't they use a shorter lens when measure the magnification of the D500 like a 35mm lens for example?

As I understand it, 50mm is the standard for this specification.
If they used a different focal length lens on the D500 then it would not be easy to compare other cameras.

Leitz Loc: Solms

BebuLamar wrote:

What I meant is that for example from the Nikon website the viewfinder specifications are

For the D5: 0.72x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)
For The D500: 1.0x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, –1.0 m–1) (Approx.)

Why don't they use a shorter lens when measure the magnification of the D500 like a 35mm lens for example?

I had misunderstood your initial question. Some info here which may help explain: https://luminous-landscape.com/understanding-viewfinders/

BebuLamar

Thanks but still don't know why they use the 50mm lens both for the FX and DX format.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

BebuLamar wrote:

It seems to me that when the viewfinder magnification is specified it's based on the 50mm lens regardless of format. I can understand using the 50mm for the 35mm format but why use the same for smaller or larger format?

If I am forced to talk in terms on lens magnification, I talk in terms of multiples of the diagonal of the image. Those who insist on using 50mm as a base don't even know the correct standardization of a 35mm image (which is 43.27mm).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Leitz wrote:

I had misunderstood your initial question. Some info here which may help explain: https://luminous-landscape.com/understanding-viewfinders/

Good article. It explains away some of the confusing regarding what you see in the VF.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Leitz wrote:

Viewfinder magnification is the magnification of the viewfinder, with or without a lens.

Right. The lens might be thrown into the discussion as an example for the reader, but the magnification factor of the viewfinder remains the same.

zigipha Loc: north nj

BebuLamar wrote:

Thanks but still don't know why they use the 50mm lens both for the FX and DX format.

50mm on FF gives about the same angle of view as the eye (the part of the eye that can actually discern items, does not count peripheral view).

To follow the same analogy on DF, it should be 35mm (33.3 actually)

Don't know why they don't use 35 on DX

BebuLamar

zigipha wrote:

50mm on FF gives about the same angle of view as the eye (the part of the eye that can actually discern items, does not count peripheral view).

To follow the same analogy on DF, it should be 35mm (33.3 actually)

Don't know why they don't use 35 on DX

That was my original question. Why don't Nikon use the 33.3mm lens when measuring viewfinder magnification for the D500? Leica uses 70mm for their S series camera which makes sense

SteveR Loc: Michigan

BebuLamar wrote:

That was my original question. Why don't Nikon use the 33.3mm lens when measuring viewfinder magnification for the D500? Leica uses 70mm for their S series camera which makes sense

I'm not sure what you mean by "viewfinder magnification" as it relates to lenses. Actually, a 50mm lens on a full frame camera is typically said to project 1:1 what the eye sees onto the sensor or film. If you have a viewfinder that shows 100% of what the sensor sees, then you will see what the lens sees. However, that is not always the case, and viewfinders do not always see 100% of what the sensor sees. A viewfinder may only see 94% of what any lens may project onto the sensor. However, it doesn't matter if it is a 50mm lens, a 100mm, 200mm, or 300mm lens, that percentage would remain constant.

On the other hand, are you actually asking about "field of view?"

BebuLamar

SteveR wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by "viewfinder mag... (show quote)

No! Viewfinder magnification does not relate to either field of view or finder accuracy. It's about how large the object appears as seen thru the viewfinder. When Nikon said its D5 has a magnification of 0.72x with a 50mm lens focus at infinity they mean that with the 50mm lens the subject appears to be 0.72 life size that is slightly smaller than what you would see with naked eyes. Of course mounting a longer focal length lens the subject would appear larger so the magnification has to be specified with a lens of certain focal length. As the 50mm lens is considered normal for the FF format so it makes sense to use that lens for the D5. However a normal lens for the D500 would be around 33mm so why not use that focal length. As I already post Leica specified their finder magnification for the Leica S with the 70mm lens which is considered normal for the format.