35mm examples

[Franglais]

PJ wanted some more examples of pictures done with the 35mm f1.8 DX (the equivalent of a normal 50mm lens on APS-C). So for the last few weekends I've been going out with just that on the D60 and learning to take a few steps back compared with what I usually do on a 18-something. Better for perspective anyway.

In August I usually shoot black and white. The bright midday sunlight makes colour look washed-out but it looks natural in black and white. Here are a few examlples anyway:


1. Patch of sunlight inside the church of Saint Sulpice
2. My favourite bit of Les Tuileries
3. Hotel de Sully
4. Pigalle, specially for PJ
5. Strange building I see on the way into town. Two extra floors of super-luxury apartments have been added on top of an old brick building

[hminx]

Great stuff Charles 2 & 4 are my favourites, can only wonder what happened to cause the damage to that bike hope the rider is ok,

[Frog]

I like one and four and wish you'd stuck 4 in last month's photo project.
I've read your opinions on the 35 versus the 50 and why. Do you think it does anything more than allowing the photographer to avoid having to back up to compose or to use one of those dreaded zoom lenses?

[Franglais]

Missed the Photo Project. I did the bicycle picture last Sunday while going round my old haunts (I used to live in Montmartre). I think the bicycle was the victim of vandals rather than an accident.

Does the "normal view" 35mm do anything the 50mm can't? Two answers:

1. I think that the "normal view" that you get with a 35mm on APS-C or a 50mm on 24x36 gives you a harmonious view of the subject and its surroundings. I find I try to build up a picture from the shapes of the subject plus what's behind it. I think that this is what people like Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz did in the 30's and 40's when a "normal view" lens was all they had. When I use a walkabout zoom I'm usually at wider angle (28mm on 24x36) going - CRASH here's the subject in the foreground - oh and here's the background thrown in to set the context. When I use a telephoto it's to isolate the subject from it's surroundings

2. Just from a gear point of view, compared with the 50mm f1.8, the 35mm f1.8 has the same advantages as the 50mm f1.4 AF-S

- manual focus override just by touching the focussing ring
- reversible lens hood that you can leave on the lens all the time (and use like that if you're in a hurry)
- fast silent focussing
- looks good