Originally posted by stevebrot Respectfully, Pentax currently lists both the FA 35/2 and HD FA 35/2 as wide angles for 35mm FF format and all catalogs going back pretty much forever list 35mm as such across all brands. I shoot a fair amount with true vintage gear and for a long time, the 35mm focal length was the only wide angle available due to design constraints, retrofocus lenses not having been developed for common use until well into the late 1950s. (Note the absence of 28mm and shorter in the Asahi line prior to the Super Takumars.)
FWIW, the convention of using the length of the frame diagonal is fairly recent, is arbitrary, and was not commonly used before the Internet and the proliferation of formats that accompanied digital capture. It works OK except that the concept does not travel well when applied to various aspect ratios (e.g. 6x6 vs. 6x7) When I was learning photography in the late 1960s, 50mm or thereabouts was justified by a FOV similar to that of average eyesight.
Steve
Right. I still have my "M" series lens catalogue from the days of my ME super, which lists the 35mm lens on the wide-angle page.
As far as what is "normal" the FA 43mm was offered by Pentax as true normal, but since 50mm on a 35mm body has been long established as the "normal" lens, this would logically make the FA 43mm the one to consider as "wide normal". "Normal" is really a matter of perspective, that is- an accurate front-to-back relationship as the eye perceives this relationship to be. A 50mm lens on a FF body apparently comes pretty close, hence its long-time "normal" designation, but the FA 43mm might be even more accurate- so its being "wide normal" seems appropriate. After I got mine, before the Pentax DSLRs came, I hardly ever went back to my 50mm lenses of so many years. I liked the 43mm "wide normal" so much better. It was preceded by the "M" 40mm f/2.8 which I also liked very much, but the FA 43mm with its brighter viewing and excellent rendering plus having AF has been a real winner.
The FA 35mm, however, I found to be even more versatile, because its wide angle is not too wide, so its wide angle perspective distortion is minimal, yet you get more into the frame.
These two lenses became my favorite primes for use on my 35mm bodies.