Originally posted by Wheatfield So then by your definition, there is no such thing as a wide angle lens?
First, I never said there was "no such thing" as a normal lens - just that the definition is extremely vague, and the usual one offered doesn't exactly make sense.
With "wide angle", it's clear enough what is meant, the only uncertainty is what the cut-off would be..
Quote: I just looked intently at the painting on the wall beside my computer. It's about 10 feet away from me.
Without moving my eyes, I paid some attention to what was clearly identifiable on the periphery of my vision. I then lifted my K-7 with the 31 mounted to my eye and looked to see what was on the edges of the viewfinder.
All I can say is that you must have defined "clearly identifiable" a lot more narrowly than I do. I can look at the painting on the opposite wall and "clearly identify" my cat sitting far enough to my right that, as I sai, an 18mmlens wouldn't encompass her. how clearly can I identify her? Well, I can tell it's a grey cat; I might not notice if someone substituted a different gray cat. Maybe you are defining 'clearly identify" to mean something else. But like I said, i could then turn around and define it even more narrowly - there is a very real sense in which 100mm is actually the cone we can see best.
This is what I mean about all this being subjective.
Quote: Do the math and you'll find that the normal lens on this camera would be about 28mm (28.12329994861911..mm if you want to be a bit pedantic).
So, I think it's safe to presume that a 28mm is probably a standard lens, presuming that I have fairly average vision.
All of the photographers I know agree with this.
What part do you think they'd agree with? Yes, they'd all agree that 28mm is about "normal" or "standard" for APS-C, because we all know the common definitions - equal to the diagonal, or the conventional wisdom that 50mm is "normal" / "standard" on FF. Again, I'm not questioning any of this - yes, we all know that's the commonly accepted focal length. What I'm saying is that the criteria that is generally offered for *why* this is the commonly accepted focal length doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny.
Quote: All the camera manufacturers whose literature I've read have agreed with this.
Then, along comes someone with no credentials outside of a fine arts degree comes along and tells me otherwise?
Sorry, you don't have the credibility to pull this one out of your @ss.
I see no reason for insults or profanity. But feel free to believe that 28mm on APS-C really is the field of view of the human eye if that makes you happy.