birdmann Loc: Raleigh, NC, USA

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Interesting. He does oversimplify things a bit, though.

Andy

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Interesting

Kuzano

Some of us do simple really well, thank you!

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Yup! And I’m among them.

repleo Loc: Boston

Informative article. Thanks for posting. It also feeds into one of my theories of how the world should be, which is that we should describe lenses in terms of field of vision rather than focal length. It would get rid of all this 'crop factor' nonsense. You will write bout your 46 degree or your 5 degree lens without all that business about 'is that on FF or a crop camera'.
I doubt I'll live to see the day.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

There was a long discussion here about this. I used the search function but can't find it. Many knowledgeable members here contributed and this Atlantic article could have been a synopsis of that discussion

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

But he also is saying, that the word "objectif" is relative to he word of being objective, which is nonsense, it just means lens, a direct translation, nothing more!

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Funny. When I had my 4x5 camera, a six-inch lens was normal. In those days, a normal lens was anything you could get your hands on whose focal length was more-or-less the same as the film's diagonal.

Me? No one has ever considered me normal...

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Il ne parle pas francais…

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

It seems he is not aware of full frame DSLRs. He says, "The sensors on digital cameras are generally not the same size as on film cameras" and "to get the same kind of perspective found on a 50-mm, the most “normal” lens for a DSLR is actually closer to 35 mm".

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

It's all legacy. Our cars have "trunks". British cars have "boots". Who needs "opera lights"?
Camera "F stops" were actually points and dents to make sure you got it right.
ISO #s were based on standardizing film chemical speeds.
The original focal length was based on the distance from a pinhole. The shutter was your hat.
With all this standardization, knowledge became fungible. And practical. There fore popular.
The 50mm gives you approx the field of view- not the scene you saw. *I* like using a 70 to 90- I can give you a 4x6 or 5x7 print and you can see it in front of you.
■
"to get the same kind of perspective found on a 50-mm, the most “normal” lens for a DSLR is actually closer to 35 mm"
Most "normal" people I've met like the 35-70s on their APS cameras. I've heard a lot of "newbies" complain they can't see, or even know, what the picture is at 18 to 35. "Looked OK in the window!" Hand them a real 50 1.8, and let them be happy- without the history lesson.