pico Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share #41 Posted January 30, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) A grumpy old man gets irritated by a question. A questioner gets offended by having his post denigrated. It's kinda balanced. There are worse hells. Hell is other people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Hi pico, Take a look here What's with the best focal length stuff?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted January 30, 2018 Share #42 Posted January 30, 2018 OK guys. back to cameras and lenses please. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter H Posted January 30, 2018 Share #43 Posted January 30, 2018 Hell is other people. So is heaven. That's life. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT0227 Posted January 30, 2018 Share #44 Posted January 30, 2018 Your best focal length is the one you tend to use the most. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-A-C Posted January 31, 2018 Share #45 Posted January 31, 2018 A Not that easy if you are in a habit of cropping or stitching (I do both).The following two crops are from the same stitched photo using 28mm. This is why I like 28mm.Wider than 28mm (21mm?)exp_sm_20151016Yosemite_hike_n_camp-1005632-merge.jpg narrower than 50mm (60mm?) exp_sm_20151016Yosemite_hike_n_camp-1005632-merge-4.jpg Awesome photos from Yosemite. Where is that? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmahto Posted January 31, 2018 Share #46 Posted January 31, 2018 A Awesome photos from Yosemite. Where is that? It is Taft point. Close to Glacier point. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anickpick Posted January 31, 2018 Share #47 Posted January 31, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hell is other people. No Exit is one of Sartre's best - and Sartre was photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson - whose main focal lentgh was 50mm. There you go. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernstk Posted January 31, 2018 Share #48 Posted January 31, 2018 (edited) The best focal length is clearly open to debate but the worst focal length is 50mm. Ernst Edited January 31, 2018 by Ernstk 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted January 31, 2018 Share #49 Posted January 31, 2018 The best focal length is clearly open to debate but the worst focal length is 50mm. [...] HCB must be turning in his grave... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernstk Posted January 31, 2018 Share #50 Posted January 31, 2018 HCB's comments on the 50mm lens, published in the New York Times... "It corresponds to a certain vision and at the same time has enough depth of focus, a thing you don’t have in longer lenses. I worked with a 90. It cuts much of the foreground if you take a landscape, but if people are running at you, there is no depth of focus. The 35 is splendid when needed, but extremely difficult to use if you want precision in composition. There are too many elements, and something is always in the wrong place. It is a beautiful lens at times when needed by what you see. But very often it is used by people who want to shout. Because you have a distortion, you have somebody in the foreground and it gives an effect. But I don’t like effects. There is something aggressive, and I don’t like that. Because when you shout, it is usually because you are short of arguments." 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted January 31, 2018 Share #51 Posted January 31, 2018 Do you know this one? « Moi, le 50mm c'est ma vie. Une certaine distance avec les gens. Le grand angle gueule, et le 90mm me rappelle ces cornets acoustiques qu'utilisaient autrefois les vieilles dames. » Henri Cartier-Bresson Photoportraits sans guillemets Le Monde, 10/10/1985 (quoted by Le Photographe n° 1607, page 28) Free translation: The 50mm lens is my life. A certain distance with people. The wide angle shouts, and the 90mm reminds me those ear trumpets that old ladies used to use in the past. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted January 31, 2018 Share #52 Posted January 31, 2018 He could be a bit pompous at times. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted January 31, 2018 Share #53 Posted January 31, 2018 Pompous ? HE is very modest and just want to work with discretion. Why we have scarsely his portraits. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernstk Posted February 1, 2018 Share #54 Posted February 1, 2018 Do you know this one? « Moi, le 50mm c'est ma vie. Une certaine distance avec les gens. Le grand angle gueule, et le 90mm me rappelle ces cornets acoustiques qu'utilisaient autrefois les vieilles dames. » Henri Cartier-Bresson Photoportraits sans guillemets Le Monde, 10/10/1985 (quoted by Le Photographe n° 1607, page 28) Free translation: The 50mm lens is my life. A certain distance with people. The wide angle shouts, and the 90mm reminds me those ear trumpets that old ladies used to use in the past. Thanks. I hadn't seen it in the original French. Ernst 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter H Posted February 1, 2018 Share #55 Posted February 1, 2018 Times and aesthetics do change, as the history of art and photography proves. We have become thoroughly accustomed to seeing wider-angle shots than HCB was, and that affects how we see and how we respond. What we think of as natural changes. 35mm is now a very moderate wide-angle to use. If nothing else, phones have seen to that, but it had happened before that, with photo-journalists and cinematographers often using wider (and longer) lenses than were readily available in HCB’s time. I don’t believe that it “shouts” to our sensibilities any more, and I suspect though I can’t know that he might have seen the world just slightly differently had he been photographing today. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted February 1, 2018 Share #56 Posted February 1, 2018 HCB used to use a 40mm lens at the end of his life (Minilux): Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/281287-whats-with-the-best-focal-length-stuff/?do=findComment&comment=3452705'>More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted February 1, 2018 Share #57 Posted February 1, 2018 (edited) A truly serious M photographer will not concern themselves with merely the "best" focal length; they will want to have the "best" lens in each focal length. They will buy one of each of the 112 M lens that has ever been made and will carry all of them at all times so that they will always have the "best" lens for the job always at hand. Since there is no bag currently being made that will accommodate all of the 112 M lenses at once, six Billingham 550 shoulder bags will be needed to carry the lenses. Air travel, mountaineering photography and street photography will be a bit more challenging - but it's the only way to really be sure. Edited February 1, 2018 by Herr Barnack 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted February 1, 2018 Share #58 Posted February 1, 2018 A truly serious M photographer will not concern themselves with merely the "best" focal length; they will want to have the "best" lens in each focal length. They will buy one of each of the 112 M lens that has ever been made and will carry all of them at all times so that they will always have the "best" lens for the job always at hand. Anyone able to afford all these lenses will hire a chap (or chapess) known as a 'lens caddy or caddie' who will carry them around for him/her. Actually, they will probably have a camera fastened to each lens to save all that lens changing with the potential dust problems it causes. So that's several 'lens caddies' required. If I may plagiarise (sort of) from Wiki: "In Leica M photography, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a photographer's camera and lenses, and gives insightful advice and moral support. A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the photography being undertaken, along with the best strategy for taking it." I wonder if HCB had one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted February 1, 2018 Share #59 Posted February 1, 2018 [...] "In Leica M photography, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a photographer's camera and lenses, and gives insightful advice and moral support. A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the photography being undertaken, along with the best strategy for taking it." I wonder if HCB had one? Interesting testimony of an HCB's "apprentice" here: https://ishupatel.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/My-Time-with-Henri-Cartier-Bresson/1/caption 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemeyer Posted February 2, 2018 Share #60 Posted February 2, 2018 What a fantastic article. Thanks for sharing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now