[Marc Sabatella]

It's true that perspective is not a function of focal length, but the idea of "perspective distortion" is. In a nutshell, perspective distortion results when a printed image depicts an angle of view that differs from the angle of view subtended by the print itself (works the same for monitors, of course). It's not that the perspective has actually changed, but we become aware that objects in the image are either closer or further than they appear. A "normal" lens produces an image that depicts approximately the same AOV as that of a typical print viewed from a typical distance. Personally, I think that's part of why it doesn't actually appeal to me all that much - everything looks, well, "normal".

[royden]

I've put the Canon idea to bed for good. Now looking for A, F and will add FA to my search.

Thx all.

[RolloR]

Nikkors will fit your K-x, especially the early Nikkors. Search for "non Ai" or "pre Ai." And you won't even need an adapter.

Actually, some Nikon Ai can also be fitted without an adapter. I've actually even managed to fit a Nikon AF without an adapter.

[royden]

Hello to all,

Thanks for your responces. Great info. I've dropped the Canon FD lens idea completely. I am currently watching some "normal" on EB. Most likely will gat a 50/1.7 A or F.

[Marc Sabatella]

But as I tried to explain before, 50 is *not* "normal" on APS-C - it's telephoto. If you want "normal", you should be looking at lenses somewhere close to 35mm.

[RioRico]

Marc is quite right Note: Although some will argue that 'normal' is a bogus idea, it's still the starting point for much general photography. Optically 'normal' has long been defined as the diagonal of the frame (film or sensor). For a 6x6cm MF cam, that's 80mm. For 135/FF cams, that's ~43mm. For 135/HF and APS-C cams, that's ~30mm.

[Acronyms: 135/FF is full-frame, like most 35mm cams; 135/HF is half-frame, about the same size as the APS-C sensors in our dSLRs; MF is medium-format, for cams with ~60mm wide frames.]

Ah, but so many 135/FF cams came with 50mm or 55mm or 58mm glass as the 'normal' kit lens. It turns out that such Fifty's are straightforward to design, and many lens designs in the 40-48mm range interfere with the swinging mirror of an SLR. Thus we have the short-tele Fifty's as "long normal" (and they're quite good in that role). Another factor: 645 and 6x6 and 6x9 MF cams have much bigger frames than our film and digital SLRs, so there's more leeway for cropping. Think of 50mm use in a 135/FF cam as "pre-cropping".

But if ya wanna get normal with an APS-C dSLR, 28mm is the closest, cheapest. Some will call that a "short normal", and a 35mm (about equivalent to 50mm on 135/FF) is "long normal". Whatever. Some think that 35mm on 135/FF or its rough equivalent, 24mm on APS-C, are wide; others, that they're slightly wide; others, that they're 'normal' for their use. Whatever. Decent glass is widely available and often quite-to-moderately cheap in the 24-28-35-37mm range. For a nice sharp rough equivalent of a classic Tessar 55, try the M42 manual Mir-1 37/2.8. You'll be glad you did.