[furby]

Hi i'm new to DSLRs and I am planning to get the k10d. From what I understand, if you use older lenses on the k10d, you'll get a 1.5x magnification. Is that also true for the kit lens? When it says 18-55, is that the equivalent focal length for a 35mm camera, or would it be more like 27-80mm?

[benplaut]

focal length doesn't change depending on whether the lens is a "digital lens" or full frame (made for film). Therefore, a 28 is a 28! Any 28 used on a digital body is going to be equivelent to about a 42 on a film body. An 18 on digital will be a ~27 on film.

Unless you're coming from a background of using film, don't bother thinking in full frame terms unless you need to.

10 is super wide, sometimes fisheye
12 is super wide, the starting point for non-fisheye
16 is wide, the starting point for "normal" zooms
18 is kinda-wide, the starting point for cheaper normal zooms
24-28 are slightly wider than normal, good choices for street photography
35 (33, to be exact) is a "normal" focal length on a digital body. It has a perspective similar to what you see.
50 is a shorter tele lens, good for portraits that aren't very tight
On up from that, you'll be buying second and third lenses.

The only conversion you really need to know is that ~35 * 1.5 = ~50, because you'll often read of a "normal" lens being a 50. Not true on a 1.5 crop.

Thoroughly confused?

[SpecialK]

The focal length printed on the lens is accurate, but with the crop factor (which varies among brands and models), it is arguably convenient to think in 35mm camera equivalent terms. So yes, the 18-55 kit lens is like a 27-80 or so.

[axl]

...So yes, the 18-55 kit lens is like a 27-80 or so....

Providing 18-55 is on 1.5x crop DSLR and 27-80o n FF digital or 35mm film body!
Then the field of view will be roughly the same...

[tux08902]

The focal length remains the same, but the image received is cropped to have an effective field of view of 27-80mm in the case of the kit lens.