What focal length should I start with?

[topol]

I was given a link to Pixel-Peeper and I noticed that many of the images were taken at 50mm, which would be about half way between my widest angle (4.3) and fully extended (90+) - ignoring digital zoom.
Would 50mm be my best starting point, allowing me to focus in either direction, or should I start at 4.3, or doesn't it matter?

Since posting I've read the UNDERSTANDING CAMERA LENSES tutorial, which not only answers my question, but shows it's not quite that simple!

Note to self - look for tutorials BEFORE posting

[Manfred M]

Norm - 50mm is considered to be the "normal" lens on a 35mm film or full-frame (FF) digital camera. So if the images were taken with a Canon crop sensor camera, with a 1.6 multiplier, you are looking at an 80mm FF equivalent. Shoot a Nikon crop-frame sensor, with its 1.5x crop factor, then you will be shooting with a 75mm FF equivalent. Go to a micro four-thirds (mFT) sensor camera like one of the Olympus or Panasonic interchangeable lens, mirrorless cameras with their 2x crop factor, you are shooting with a 100mm crop frame equivalent. Which brings us to your Fujifilm crossover camera; you'd have to know what the sensor size is to figure out the equivalency. Bottom line is while the 50mm focal length is indeed a fixed number, it will give you different results, depending on the sensor size.

As a general rule, anything shorter than a normal lens is considered to be a wide angle shot and anything longer a telephoto shot. Granted, this is a massive oversimplification...

As for which focal length to start with; really it does not matter. Shoot with whatever gives you the image you want to capture. Architecture, landscape images will tend to use something slightly wider than a normal lens, whereas portraiture or wildlife photography will tend to use longer focal lengths. Street photography can use just about any focal length.

Short answer is shoot at whatever gives you the framing / composition you want to take...

[SimonsPictures]

Would 50mm be my best starting point, allowing me to focus in either direction, or should I start at 4.3, or doesn't it matter?

the thing about 50mm is that very often it is the natural angle of view we tend commonly to look at things or 'see' things,it's not too wide and not too long but 'just right'

- but that aside there is a very good experience to be had with shooting with a fixed focal length ( any length) but 50mm equivalent especially, it makes us think more about the basics too which means we tend to get better pictures, simply because were really thinking about what were doing - and rather than zooming we zoom with our feet and that engages us more in the photographic experience does me anyway -

- all I wanted to say really was the it is definitely worth giving yourself time with just one focal length and 50mm equivalent is a very good place to start

[topol]

Thank you - I was beginning to wonder if I'm trying run before I can walk, and you've proved me right

From my camera's specs: Sensor type - 1/2.3-inch CCD with primary color filter

[Shadowman]

I have a couple of primes and sometimes the focal length is too short or too long. I've been in tight alleyways where anything above 50mm has me standing with my back against a wall and I wish I had 18mm. If you have a zoom lens get out there and shoot and see where you normally shoot.

[William W]

. . . Short answer is shoot at whatever gives you the framing / composition you want to take...

I agree, but I add:

Attain the CAMERA VIEWPOINT that gives you the PERSPECTIVE that you want first.

What I mean is - plonk yourself in the position to get the required PERSPECTIVE (the relationship between the foreground and the middleground and the background and the SUBJECT) . . .

and then ZOOM to the FOCAL LENGTH that gives you the FRAMING and the COMPOSITION that is required.

This sometimes cannot be done - but often it can: more often this procedure is totally overlooked.

WW

[topol]

[...] I've been in tight alleyways standing with my back against a wall[.... ].

It's a long time since I've done that

Thank you all for the (mixed) opinions - certainly given me lots to consider and indeed to try.

[dem]

Note that "50 mm equivalent" means about 10 mm focal length on your camera. This is because the sensor in your camera is 5.2 times smaller than the 35 mm or full frame sensor or 135 format, which used to be the most common film format and is still used as a reference. So 50 mm / 5.2 = 9.6 mm, where 5.2 is the crop factor.

You will get better pictures if you do not worry about the focal length but think where to put the camera: the height, the distance from the subject and the angle. Then zoom in or out to frame the shot. The focal length will sort itself out.

Happy shooting, dem.

[jcuknz]

But Topol you are apparently confusing two ways of describing a lens ... firstly is the actual focal length as you write 4.3 and 90 and secondly is the equivalent focal length of a 50mm of such a lens used on a 35mm or full frame digital camera .... so the correct answer as to what focal length to use is around 10mm on your camera. I am estimating that the crop factor of your bridge camera is around x5 hence 50/5=10 ... or x5.5 gives 9mm which I seem to remember as the factor given last time I read about it So 50mm with your lens is equivalent to a 250<275mm on a full frame camera .... though I am guessing that like my cameras the lens barrel is marked with equivalent focal lengths and the actual FL is found around the front of the lens.
EXIF often gives equivalent and actual focal lengths.

Personally I would suggest it is better to use the focal length that frames the subject matter for the composition you want ... I was going through some old negatives of the days when I only had a 50mm lens on my SLR and was frankly disgusted and very happy that today with digital I have zooms to get good framing. OK I am aware of the effects of using different focal lengths for compression and expansion but such considerations are usually completely irrelevant and framing what I want to record, and only that, is of greater importance. This is a vital consideration when using a bridge camera as I did for best part of a decade before going to MFT as for best image quality one cannot afford the careless lazy framing of the DSLR user who 'shoots wide' just 'in case'. A hard accusation but justified when I look at photos that have not been cropped to their essentials through lack of experience or judgement and one knows they use a DSLR. DSLRs make beginners work easy where working with a bridge demands greater skills and judgement and so is harder for one starting out.

Finally that commonly expressed nonsense about 50mm being how we see things ... we simply do not ... I invite you to look at your keyboard and see how many keys you clearly see and how your eyes have to move to view adjacent keys ... while perifial viewing shows me the whole keyboard and much more I only 'see' one key which equates to possibly a 500mm lens ...
not 50mm

[mknittle]

I can't say because I am all over the place

[William W]

. . . but that aside there is a very good experience to be had with shooting with a fixed focal length (any length) but 50mm equivalent especially, it makes us think more about the basics too which means we tend to get better pictures, simply because were really thinking about what were doing - and rather than zooming we zoom with our feet and that engages us more in the photographic experience does me anyway . . .

I am always very cautious using that phrase. I simply don't use it.

The point is one cannot "zoom with our feet" - because zooming is the result of the action of changing the Focal Length - if you move your feet you change the PERSPECTIVE of the shot.

This is mentioned as an important point relevant to the idea of using a Prime Lens to make us think more (or differently) about the basics of our Photography.

***

. . . all I wanted to say really was the it is definitely worth giving yourself time with just one focal length and 50mm equivalent is a very good place to start.

Yes, I think that is good advice: and that is specifically why I made the comment above.

WW

[topol]

Summarizing the advice, I get my answer:

As for which focal length to start with; really it does not matter

It is definitely worth giving yourself time with just one focal length and 50mm equivalent is a very good place to start
[...]Yes, I think that is good advice:

Short answer is shoot at whatever gives you the framing / composition you want to take...

If you have a zoom lens get out there and shoot and see where you normally shoot.

Plonk yourself in the position to get the required PERSPECTIVE [....]and then ZOOM to the FOCAL LENGTH that gives you the FRAMING and the COMPOSITION that is required.

You will get better pictures if you do not worry about the focal length but think where to put the camera: the height, the distance from the subject and the angle. Then zoom in or out to frame the shot. The focal length will sort itself out.

Personally I would suggest it is better to use the focal length that frames the subject matter for the composition you want ..

Once more, thank you all.

[Dave Humphries]

Attain the CAMERA VIEWPOINT that gives you the PERSPECTIVE that you want first.

What I mean is - plonk yourself in the position to get the required PERSPECTIVE (the relationship between the foreground and the middleground and the background and the SUBJECT) . . .

and then ZOOM to the FOCAL LENGTH that gives you the FRAMING and the COMPOSITION that is required.

This sometimes cannot be done - but often it can: more often this procedure is totally overlooked.

This is sooooo important for a lot of photography.

If you get into the habit of working like this Norm, which is entirely possible even without a DSLR, you'll produce better compositions than a lot of people with one.

However, as Bill acknowledges, it isn't always possible, so then we do have to compromise.