On Sep 14, 2005, at 9:15 AM, Adam Maas wrote:
Considering that the actual normal on 35mm is 43mm ...
That's kinda splitting hairs, Adam. The diagonal of a 24x36mm format frame is 43.26mm and a traditional definition of normal is that it is "approximately" equal to the diagonal of the format. However, it's been well accepted for many many years that a 50-55mm lens constitutes a normal lens for 35mm, which places a 35 and 40mm lens into the wide category.
The definitions are somewhat arbitrary, of course. 6x6cm format's 80mm well-accepted normal is almost exactly the diagonal of a typical 57x57mm frame, and many have 75mm normal lenses, so it's all really a matter of opinion. (If you reduce the format proportion of a 6x6 frame to 6x4.5, then the 80mm normal has about the same relationship to the diagonal that the 50mm normal does in 35mm parlance...)
Godfrey
