How did the 50mm become the standard?

5 years 4 months ago #613085 by Harper Coswell
This I think would be interesting to know.  How did the 50mm lens become the center of the photography cosmos?   Why not 85mm or 35mm or ??  


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5 years 4 months ago #613089 by Nikon Shooter
43mm, Harper, not 50!

Nikon had a zoom with a 43 to I think 72…but not sure of the se-
cond number; that's because the human eye is around 43mm.
Later, the number was rounded to 50.

TRY THIS…

Set a 24~70 mm zoom lens and look at something through it and
the other eye beside it. Use the zoom ring to get the two images
your brain will make of it quite the same size and check the focal
length on the zoom…

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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5 years 4 months ago #613097 by fmw
The zoom in question was the 43-86, one of Nikon's worst optics.  I speak from experience.

There has always been some controversy about what focal length most closely sees the way the human eye sees.  People have chosen virtually everything from 35mm to 85mm on a 35mm camera.  I think the industry settled on 50mm because that is what Leica called a normal lens decades ago and produced and sold many many 50mm lenses.  Leica was the first company to popularize the 35mm still format.


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5 years 4 months ago #613130 by GWS
Good thing they started to round them up.  43-86 is just an awful, not so friendly to remember number.  At least for me.  :toocrazy:


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5 years 4 months ago #613140 by NewavaMike
LOL !!


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5 years 4 months ago #613175 by effron
"How did the 50mm lens become the center of the photography cosmos? "

By vote

Why so serious?
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5 years 4 months ago #613285 by GWS

effron wrote: "How did the 50mm lens become the center of the photography cosmos? "

By vote


I wonder if the Russians messed with this vote system?  :rofl:


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