Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi,
I found Seren's poll (and polls in general) very interesting because they help us to understand what kind of things people do/use in photography. This time I would like to add the other one and it is about focal lengths you use. In time when zoom lenses are mostly popular it may seem that it's hard to realize which focal length is most frequently used but if we wornder for the while, I think we can find out about it. What about me? Well, for a long time I had only prime lenses in my Contax system and I mostly used 50mm (fullframe). Today with my Nikkor zoom lens I think the most frequent angles I do like to see the world are 17mm (APS-C) and 50mm (APS-C). It's a pity that we could not do the multiple choices, so I give 17mm although I thing I use them two in the same frequency.

Let take some points of reference:
-I really think about the angle of view so let give the focal lengths with reference to fullframe size. If you use another systems, you should need to count equivalent values.
-Saying 17mm we mean the focal lengths close to 17mm, not exacly 17mm all the time!

Thank you.
Ps. Correct my English

I use a program called Exposure Plot to analyse my exif.
http://www.cpr.demon.nl/prog_plotf.html

My most common focal length (35 mm EFL) is 24 mm, so I selected 28 mm in the poll. 24 mm is the wide end of my favourite zoom, so I could have used even wider. So much for lusting after those mega-zoom lenses.

I think you need a crop factor/ format fov calculator so people can figure out what to vote for.

Is there any way I can get this data for my entire flickr gallery?

What is the point of converting the field of view to full frame terms if my lens is designed for 1.6x sensor? And I have this exact sensor size. I don't understand. I know if I use full frame lenses it makes sense.
17 and wider when I get some $ mostly vertically (portrait vs landscape)

Because it provides a reference for angle of view, a lenses focal length is independent of the sensor size, so a 17mm lens on a digicam is a telephoto, on medium format is a fish eye. By equating everything to what the equivalent focal length is on 35mm to get the same field of view we can compare like to like.


Mine tend to be 24 (15mm on crop, 45mm on MF), 50 (30mm on crop, 105 on MF) , 85 (50mm on crop, 165 on MF) depending on situation, with 24 being the most used.

I'm definitely not an expert, but I think its basically because even with an EFS lens made for the crop body, a photograph you take at 17mm with a Canon crop body, will fill the frame in the same fashion as one taken with a 27mm with a full frame sensor (5D, etc)...in other words, using a 17mm on a full frame will get a wider view in the picture than on your crop body, hence the conversion. I could be a bit off though.

Very usefull program! Thanks!

I marked every where that the focal lengths have to be calculated to full frame (FF) equivalent, because I really mean about angles of view.

A 50mm lens for 35 mm format on a 1.5x crop factor sensor is equivalent to the FOV of a 75mm lens on a full frame sensor. This is regardless of whether or not the lens is designed for a crop factor sensor or full frame. A lens that is designed for a crop factor sensor can be smaller and designed more effectively to cover the smaller sensor size.

To be sure, the focal lengths do not depend on sensor size nor crop factor so 17mm for FF is 17mm for APS-C! Focal length is the lense parameter itself and it's value will be preserved regardless into which body the lens is mounted to.

On the other hand, focal lengths for ages have been informally associated with angles of view.

It would seem to be strange to do the poll about angles of view (and it is difficult for calculating the angles too) so I did it for focal lengths with reference to fullframe.

There is a good tutorial on sensor sizes, "crop factor" and FL multiplier on Cambridge in Color. It includes a calculator where you enter the sensor type or size and actual FL and it returns the focal length multiplier and 35 mm EFL.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm

I spend most of my time at above 300mm (equivalent). Unless I'm standing in the corner (Something that can be inconvenient for when I want to get back for pit shots, let alone dangerous), it's tough to get away with shorter focals.

You have 1.6x, another may have 1.5x, someone else 1.4x, I have 2x, and someone else may have 0.63x (medium format). If we use a common measurement like 35mm/135 format comparisons can be easily made.

For instance if I got out my ultra-zoom bridge camera its lens is 5.9-59mm, but if I posted the figure from that lens without conversion you'd think I was an extreme wide angle to normal shooter, rather than its 135 format equivalent of 38-380mm.

hmm... looks like 28% of the 51,184 photos on this HD range between 30 and 50mm although there were big notable spikes at 16mm, 160mm and 640mm (my 100-400 on 40D@1.6x).

What seems more surprising to me is that it looks like I tend to shoot wide open all the time with the majority of my shots at f2.8, F4 or F5.6.

Hi,
Maybe it's time to give some summary now? The results are not a surprise. Most of us are normal because a lot of peple like to see the world in a normal angle of view. In the second place, many of people like to watch near but wide surrounding world not being interested in things that happen behind the hills Not many but some of people choose far away views. Very peculiar is the 35mm. It was a favourite focal length for reportage years ago and maybe it is still today, I assume, but It's not so popular lens for all-purpose photography. It's not wide enough and it's not a normal angle lens either.
Thank you for involvement and have a nice day

I used Exposure Plot to examine a sampling of my photos (1,000).
I found it interesting that I seem to be at either end of the lens zoom and spend little time in the middle. My most used focal length was 70mm (FF).
Most of my shots are at f4 followed by f2.8 and then f8 even with two lenses that do f2.8 and one that does f1.8.

14mm with the 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor .... on a D700! That's one wide sucker.. and I love it!

I shoot mostly landscapes and sports. True I know most sports are done with telephotos but I've got the luxury that I can be right up close to the athletes I'm shooting and I can fill the frame. However I do have to be careful about facial distortions by using this focal length in this manner. My most used lense is the 16-35 f/2.8

Yeah, it matches Seren's poll which told us that most of us do lanscape and people photography. The focal lengths mensioned by you are characteristic of these sorts of fotography.

Maybe you love it but you may use it in moderate frequency amongst other focal lengths Sory, I asked about using, not loving But seriously, I saw you do a lot of pictures with longer focal lengths.

Sometimes if we can't avoid things, just exaggerate it But it is true, that it's nearly impossible to use fisheye for a football match, to be close is not enough.

i vote 85mm, since i use my 55mm alot @ 2.8 on my 40D... lovely bokeh...

Picked 35mm as I'm a big fan of wide/normals. My 40/2 Ultron is my go-to lens.

I would think fisheye should have its own category

Yes, you are right. There a lot of other options like fisheye, pinhole, tilt&shift, lensbaby, macro, ... but they are more or less too specific. I focus rather on focal lengths.

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Regards,
Giang.