Digital Prime Lenses?

[Garbz]

"Thanks for the input... I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the how the lenses act in the digital world. "

Or easier yet, multiply by 1.5 and be done with it

Actually once you spend enough time around APS cameras you'll need to start dividing to remember what it was like on film.

 

[MBasile]

"Thanks for the input... I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the how the lenses act in the digital world. "

Or easier yet, multiply by 1.5 and be done with it

Actually once you spend enough time around APS cameras you'll need to start dividing to remember what it was like on film.

Haha, I assumed that was the trick, but I didn't know if there was something I was overlooking, hence this thread. Thanks for the discussion everyone!

 

[Dwig]

...Actually once you spend enough time around APS cameras you'll need to start dividing to remember what it was like on film.

Or you could say that FX sensors and full frame 35mm film have a crop factor of 0.75x letting you still multiply instead of dividing.

As more and more beginning photographers totally lack film experience the use of a crop factor based on the old 35mm film format will become as odd and difficult to grasp as refering to 8:45 as being "quarter till 9" is for someone how only uses digital clocks.

 

[andrew99]

I haven't shot film or full frame, but on my digital camera (D300), I find the 35mm prime a lot more useful than the 50mm. With the 50, I was always backing into walls, it wasn't quite wide enough. Actually, 50mm is kind of an awkward focal length on digital, not wide and not telephoto. I'd go with the 35mm for wide, and 85mm for head shots.

 

[patrickt]

Andrew99, you've got it. Shoot pictures and learn from experience. You've got experience with a 35mm and a 50mm so if you're wondering about a 70mm it's not tough to make some valid assumptions based on your experience.

 

[Steph]

...Actually once you spend enough time around APS cameras you'll need to start dividing to remember what it was like on film.

Or you could say that FX sensors and full frame 35mm film have a crop factor of 0.75x letting you still multiply instead of dividing.

Your maths are wrong though: 1/1.5=0.666666.... not 0.75.

 

[Dao]

My input on this is ....

** Do not worry about the CROP FACTOR **

For me, it really mean nothing since my first SLR type camera is a crop sensor digital body.

If you are not coming from full frame sensor body or 35mm film body (just like me), do not worry about it.

Just put the lens on the camera and look at the viewfinder. If the current lens cannot give the wide view you want, you need a wider lens. Same thing apply on the telephoto side.


I believe for someone coming from the 35mm film camera and switch to a digital cropped body, the crop factor may have that person to select the lens to take a particular photo.