35mm: The Best AND Worst Focal Length?

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[albertsmith]

I've been a 35mm as my basic everyday lens shooter for 40 years. I came up when zooms hadn't yet reached fixed focal length lens quality so we used primes. There is a terrific mathematical truth to the 35mm lens that I learned from the Leica school, where prime lenses were the only game in town...

The distance from the subject with a 35mm lens is equal to the edge to edge coverage in the landscape orientation. If you are 10 feet from a wall, you'll capture 10 feet of that wall in the frame.

No need to get out a tape measure, close enough is good enough. After some time, you will see the image with your eyes and move to the right spot to raise your camera and shoot what you saw in your mind's eye. This will make you very effective on the street or in journalistic type shooting, versus someone standing in one spot "playing their trombone" with a zoom trying to find the shot.

After I left film and went digital, with every system that I got, a 35mm (or equivalent) was the first lens that I bought for that brand.

[Narsuitus]

Over the decades, I have tried 21, 24, 28, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55mm in a one prime lens/one body situation. All worked well; however, my personal favorite was the 35mm f/1.4 on a full-frame SLR or a full-frame rangefinder camera.

For a one zoom lens/one body situation, I have tried the following zoom lenses on full-frame SLRs :
35-70mm f/2.8
28-70mm f/2.8
20-35mm f/2.8
18-55mm f/3.5 to f/5.6

The 28-70mm was my personal favorite.

[themanfromphoto]

When I was shooting news in the 80's I used a 28mm as my everyday lens. Get it all and crop it later. Lazy photography but it worked in the confines of spot news. Then I decided to grow up photographically and for my own work I used a 35mm lens exclusively and only printed full frame. That's when I really honed my skills compositionally. Every little mistake was magnified. After years I found myself putting the camera to my eye and great stuff would be captured. I liken it to a guitarist that never looks at the fret board and is just in the moment. That's what the goal should be. Your eye, camera and brain all working as one. Tough place to get to.

[jordanthornton]

Same music track as London’s Mourning starting at 02:25? Sign of a good emotional imprinting, I started seeing the street black/white photos from that video while you were speaking hahaha 💪🏻

[GeoChild]

Great video! The focal length I've fallen in love with is 40mm full frame equivalent. Closer to a 35mm than 50mm (I find 50mm a bit too tight for my style). I used to use zooms exclusively, then after reviewing my images discovered that more often than not for my style I shot around 40mm. I got the affordable 40mm Nikon Z lens for my Z5 and it was like lightning striking. I now use my Ricoh GRIIx as my everyday carry and have shot some of my best work with it.

[walkingmanvideo]

I just purchased a XPro3 with 23mm(35mmFF) and love the focal length.

[JunaidKureshi]

I have 16-35, 24-70, 70-200, and only one prime that is 35mm, i shoot my talking head videos with 35mm, it looks natural FL also the distance is perfect, I tired tighter FL but that just fill myself in frame rather than some surroundings as well, so the viewer get the idea where I’m sitting and also they have some place to laid their eyes on instead of looking at me from close all the time, when I tried 24mm, it was too wide giving so many useless distractions in frame, and to match I had to place my camera too close to myself.

[careylymanjones]

35mm has long been a standard for photojournalism. Its field of view is great for "telling a story". Wide enough to put your subject IN CONTEXT, narrow enough that your subject doesn't get lost. That's why it's a classic focal length for "environmental" portraits. With it you can capture the blacksmith AND his forge, without having to choose between them.

[fuelediowa]

Good video my man. I really liked your explanation and insight.

[jordanthornton]

Quality visual storytelling in this one - the cat + trees was particularly good educational resources. Gratz man - striking balance between teacher and entertainer very well 🔥

[UPD]

You made a point, I love 35mm to be wide enough with 50mm, and I hate 35mm to be not wide enough with 24mm

[ashavari]

But what if I don’t want flat & unimpressive? 🥲 what if the goal isn’t “becoming a better photographer”, but rather creating a unique piece of art or vibe or aesthetic? then which wide prime lens do I go with? 😩

I want something that’s both fun & versatile 🥺

[GrenvilleMelonseedSkiff]

I like the 35 mm equivalent focal length on my X100V. It’s a little tighter than my iPhone camera and more often than not, that’s a good thing.

[jamesbaber]

Brilliant video, James. You hit the nail on the head.

[paulasimson]

Excellent, excellent advice. And the effort you put into this video made it so engaging.

[matrixate]

I've never heard one person say the 35mm being the worst lens....ever.

[wanderlustdetailer]

I just picked up a Leica X and it’s got a fixed 35mm prime. So far the pics I’ve taken on it all have some 3D pop and not flat looking at all. My other camera has a fixed 24mm-75mm.

[jasonbalenweddingfilm]

cause of the overlap if I got an 85 why get a 50 ? that's why my trio is an 18mm/20mm 1.8 a 35mm and an 85. doesnt make sense to me to get a 24, 50 then 85.

[TerraThink]

I started with primarily videography using a slow 24-120mm full frame equivalent lens.

Zoomed only to the extent it was faster and more convenient than moving my feet.

Had no idea that each focal length changed the entire perspective of the image.

Then I got more into photography, got a new full frame camera with a 35mm prime.

And that lens + watching a ton of youtube videos on various focal lengths taught me that 35mm (or 50mm) is not just a zoomed in 24mm.

And now that I'm aiming to get a zoom lens again, I'll probably use it more like primes, being more aware which focal range I'm at and what that does for the image :D

It feels abit like coming full circle.

[TheArtist]

I've found numerous situations where 35mm was just too short for me to take the photo, I couldn't move any closer and as a result, I found it to be a lens that "sucks up" too much of the things I do not want in the frame. I don't like cropping either, I want to use the image as shot, so 50mm is my favourite. My 50 just works in 90% of situations, oh and I LOVE it's perspective/look!