lens sizes?

Question

what is the difference between a 50mm lens and a 135mm lens? does one take better pictures?

Answer 1

In 35mm film cameras, a 28mm was considered a typical wide angle lens. A 50mm was a 'normal' lens and usually came with the camera. A 135mm was a very popular telephoto.

Each has it's purpose. It's like asking which is better, a knife, a fork, or a spoon.

Think of it this way. You're in a concert.

A 28mm shot shows the auditorium and the stage.
A 50mm shot shows the singers and backup band.
A 135mm shot shows the lead singer.
A 300mm shot shows her tonsils. (kidding)

That's why zooms are so popular. They let you change views quickly without changing lenses. It's interesting how cameras came with 50mm lenses, but photographers bought 85 to 105mm short telephotos for their portrait lenses. Here's my take on that.

A 50mm reproduces what your eyes see.
A 105mm reveals what you're paying attention to.

I hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

A 50mm lens is considered a "normal" lens in 35mm photography since it approximates the angle of vision of the human eye.

A 135mm lens is a short telephoto lens.

Since the 135mm lens is 2.7 times "longer", an image made by a 135mm lens will be 2.7 times larger than the same image, from the same distance, made by a 50mm lens.

Answer 3

All good answers. I especially like George Y. when he said a 50mm shows you what the eye sees, the 105 shows you what you're paying attention to.

I would add to these answers that you need to consider WHERE you are going to be taking pictures. If outdoors, the 105 might be a better choice but if you are indoors, you may find you want something a little wider such as the 50. I prefer a 23 to 28mm for indoor work (digital equivalent 18mm) to capture more of what is happening in a room. To get closeups in a room, simply walk up to the subject. If you are outdoors and want to get closer to a bear, use a 105, do not walk up to it.

Perhaps you would rather find a nice zoom lens and get the best of both worlds by sacrificing a couple of F-stops.

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Answer 4

It depends on whether you are using a digital SLR or a film SLR, but the 135 mm lens is a "telephoto" lens that will make the subject appear closer to you, as if you used a mild telescope. One is not better than the other, unless we get into some deep academic arguement.

Here is a mini-tutorial I made myself to compare focal lengths. This is NOT a lens test or a camera test! It is merely intended to show the difference between various focal lengths. The lens was the Nikon 18-200 VR lens, which is (by definition) an 11X lens, but that 11X does not tell you what the final image will look like. I added one more frame taken with a 300 mm lens. The camera was a Nikon D200 so there is a 1.5X "crop factor," "lens factor," or "focal length multiplier." There is further explanation on the image itself. It would help if you click on "All Sizes" above the image.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7189769@N04/476181737/

This was done with two different lenses: the Nikon 17-55 and 70-300:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1245831147/

Answer 5

A 50mm lens is a "normal" lens while a 135 is a small telephoto.

The 50mm focuses closer in distance (up to 18") and is faster (smaller F stop) but it has a little line bend (making the nose a tad bigger than the ears, just just a tad).

The 135mm won't focus closer than 5 feet, but it brings things in 2 1/2 closer. It's slower (larger F/stop) but flat field, making it good for portraits (no line bend, nose and ears retain proportional shape).

Answer 6

Ignoring the 1.5x factor using a digital SLR rather than a 35mm film camera, there are 3 main classes of lens, wide angle, normal and telephoto. My Pentax digital SLR came with a 18x55mm zoom lens for example. That means when I zoom down to the 18mm setting I get a wide angle of view and when I zoom up to the 55mm setting I get a telescope or magnified view. Now if we stick in that 1.5 factor, and compare it to a 35 film camera, at the 18 setting, it acts like a 27mm wide angle and at the 55mm setting it acts like an 82.5mm telephoto lens. As to what takes better pictures, there is no answer as such. A wide angle has it's place in macro work in particular and is good for group shots from a point where you want wide coverage. The normal setting refers to what the eyes see from the point of viewing the subject and the telephoto lets you zoom in on the center of the view area. Hope that is clear for you.