Equivalent focal lenght

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Could anyone tell me what the equivalent focal lenght of a 90mm and 110mm (4x5) lens would be in 6x7cm or 35mm camera?

Thank you.

-- Mario (maab@nyc.rr.com), July 13, 2001

Answers

This has been covered many times and those threads are in the archives. The major debate is whether you should consider the angle of view covered by the diagonal across the various formats which is applicable in some circumstances, or the angle of view along the long side of the formats, which is applicable in other circumstances. Calumet Photo also has published a chart comparing these and many other formats.

-- Ellis Vener Photography (evphoto@heartstone.com), July 13, 2001.

VERY roughly, I generally divide by three and subtract 10% to go from 4x5 to 35mm. Thus a 90 would equal about a 27mm and a 110 would equal about a 37mm.

Most manufacturers double 35mm focal lengths to get 6x7 equivalents (thus, in the above example, 55mm and 75mm).

As Ellis points out though, you can't do direct or exact comparisons across formats that have different aspect ratios.

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-- John (WhitmanDesign@aol.com), July 13, 2001.


'Course, you gotta subtract the 10%, meaning that "37mm" above should read 33 or 34mm, and "75mm" should read 66 or 68mm.... oops.

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-- John (WhitmanDesign@aol.com), July 13, 2001.


Multiply by focal length by 0.3 for 35mm, by 0.6 for 6x7.

-- Bill (bmitch@home.com), July 13, 2001.

Your 90 will seem very much like a 65mm in 6X7, and a 28mm in 35. The 110 will seem like a 75 in 6X7 and a 35-40 in 35.

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@sierra.net), July 13, 2001.


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