Which is your most used focal length on Full Format 35mm cameras

[Ezzie]

In the past, 50mm. It was what the camera was boxed with. These days 28mm.

[135format]

Originally Posted by back alley

40 is indecisive?

i see it as more bold, independent...not a sheep...

It was a faint attempt at humour. i.e. can't decide on 35 or 50. Never mind.

I guess the results show what we all knew which is that 35 and 50 lenses are the most used. But I often think that shorter than 35 gives a more dynamic looking image but as someone was saying, you do have to get right up close for those shots and it can make the subject (and photographer) uncomfortable. I thought the most popular would be 35.

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by back alley

40 is indecisive?

i see it as more bold, independent...not a sheep...

Now we are sheep for liking 35mm and 50mm...? come on, it's just photography equipment.

[Bob Michaels]

Originally Posted by back alley

40 is indecisive? ................

I wonder how many here could tell the difference between a 35 and a 40, or a 40 and a 50 for that matter, without a point of reference or comparison.

I know the FOV of my CV 40 matches the 35mm frame lines of my ZI at normal shooting distance.

[back alley]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

Now we are sheep for liking 35mm and 50mm...? come on, it's just photography equipment.

i was reacting to being called 'indecisive'...

[back alley]

Originally Posted by Bob Michaels

I wonder how many here could tell the difference between a 35 and a 40, or a 40 and a 50 for that matter, without a point of reference or comparison.

I know the FOV of my CV 40 matches the 35mm frame lines of my ZI at normal shooting distance.

i use the 35mm fl on the rd1 for my 40...

[kdemas]

I'm a 50 kinda guy most of the time when doing "street".

[jippiejee]

I brought my 50mm f/1.2 for a concert today because it's fast. And I hated hated hated that choice. So tight!! Only dead-on compositions when you can't really move. Did I mention I hated it? Hate hate hate. Should have brought my 28mm. Hate hate hate 50mm for concerts. Bluh. Hate. Hate.

[al1966]

The more I photograph the more I use a 50, I like 35 and can use it all day but I will frequently want to get that bit tighter. 135 is another I enjoy but no way I would not leave the house with just one. 50 is just about right as when wandering with just one on whatever camera I am carrying that dat I very rarely think I want wider or narrower. Actually it is probably one or two times out of ten walks, I would quite happily have just a 50 and not feel I was missing much, when I was younger I wanted to get more lenses other than the 50mm I had, I ended up using the 50mm most.

[digitalintrigue]

105/2 Nikkor on my Nikon, it's the only full frame 35mm I've shot this year...and nearly every frame is with the 105

[pagpow]

Poll specifies FF "camera", not RF. In which case, 85 - 100 on SLR. On RF, it was 50mm, but that might be in flux.

[bgb]

24mm of late ... started at 50mm then 35mm then 28mm and now 24, no idea what I will end up with :-)

[Richard G]

50. Chiefly because it's the C Sonnar or I might not have rediscovered the 50. Then 35, then 25, then 21 then 90. RFF would have brought me back to the 50.

[DNG]

I picked "25" because my Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AiS is my main Lens for my Nikon FE... BUT, I own a 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor (last non-Ai, but it is Ai'd now), and a Nikkor Q 135mm f/2.8 Non-Ai... But the 55 and 135 are used my m4/3 95% of the time...

[Richard G]

Originally Posted by al1966

The more I photograph the more I use a 50, I like 35 and can use it all day but I will frequently want to get that bit tighter. 135 is another I enjoy but no way I would not leave the house with just one. 50 is just about right as when wandering with just one on whatever camera I am carrying that dat I very rarely think I want wider or narrower. Actually it is probably one or two times out of ten walks, I would quite happily have just a 50 and not feel I was missing much, when I was younger I wanted to get more lenses other than the 50mm I had, I ended up using the 50mm most.

I agree with this mostly. I do hanker after wider if I am out with a 50, but it will do nearly all the time. In a discussion of this a year or more ago the 35 was favoured by one astute photographer when he was some place new and wanted to get it all in the frame, whereas around home there wasn't so much he wanted in and the 50 was preferred. I've recounted Bill Pierce's rediscovery of the 50 over on his forum, this new medium telephoto on his mate's camera which he found a revelation. Once I heard him talk of the 50 as a medium telephoto it gave me a new insight into that lens, which in turn helped my appreciation of the 35 as well.

[x-ray]

I guess my most used lens is my 75 summilux and second my 35 Biogon. I do like the 75 fl for many shots over a 50. I do use my 25 Biogon a good deal but rarely my 21 and 90.

I've changed a lot over the years. In the 60-70s I used my 21 and 90 most but rarely now.

[f16sunshine]

60mm Macro Planar is on my 5Dii better than 70% of the time. Other than that it's usually a 100mm Planar or 21mm Distagon or 21mm Zuiko for wide.
On the Rangefinder it's almost always 35/40mm of which I find the two focal lengths interchangeable.
It's 40mm for me as I have a CLE 40mm for modern (or color). I use a Nikkor f1.8/35 or f2.5/35mm for a more vintage look or B+W use.
But nobody cares so why am i answering. lol

[traveler_101]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

50mm I think... but I switch freely back and forth between 35 and 50mm.

I voted 35, but I am in this same category. The 35 is on the Bessa-T and the 50 on the Leica IIIf.

[elmer3.5]

Hi, by far my most used focal lenght is 50mm, in second place would be 40mm which i just love, never to wide never too narrow, just perfect...think it´s going to become my first FL!

The only inconvenience is the fact that on 40mm there are no fast primes like the zm sonnar or summicrons, not to say the lux´s...

After having every known 40mm in m39 and m-mount i sticked to the rollei sonnar hft lens...which beats my summicron v3.

For 50mm alternative i love the sonnar zm and the elmar 5cm coated lens.

And the cameras i use are the m3 and m9.

Very ineteresting and filling a gap is the planar 45mm from the contax g system...what a lens and what a fov!
Very flexible focal legth!

cheers!

[kdellaquila]

21mm f4 super-angulon with my 90mm collapsible elmar coming in a close second

[seakayaker1]

Over time I would say the 50mm is the focal length that I have used the majority of time. With that said I shot 3 rolls of film with a 35 cron and 2 rolls with a 75 cron in the past week.

. . . . . runs in cycles.

[soelin]

It's hard not to have both 35mm and 50mm.

[Ronald_H]

You forgot 40mm. The CV 40mm f2 in F-mount is my most used lens.

[DougFord]

95% 35mm with 40mm, 50mm and 28mm taking up the slack.

[Danlo]

The last 2 years 35mm.. But before that it was almost exclusively 50mm for about 10 years.. And now Im leaning towards going back to only the 50 again..