We’re all human!

A friend from my camera club (thank you Stan) pointed out a silly mistake that weaved its way into my last two posts (now corrected). Namely that my ‘new’ Mamiya 45mm is ‘equivalent’ to a 28mm lens on my 5D3.

Rubbish!

In my enthusiasm to talk about the LE potential, I made a silly extrapolation and didn't stop to think.

We are all aware of the so-called crop effect, ie when, for example, we use a 100mm full frame focal length lens on, say, a 1.6 crop APS-C body. That is the 100mm full frame lens on the APS-C body has the field of view of an 160mm lens on the full frame body. The lens, however, is still a 100mm focal length lens: on both bodies!

The thing that is changing is the sensor size: full frame vs APS-C.

So, my Mamiya lens, attached to my 5D3 by an adapter to ensure focus is achieved at the sensor plane, is still a 45mm lens, and because I’m not changing sensor size, the Mamiya 45mm on my 5D3 looks like a 45mm focal length on, say, my 24-105mm F/4L. 

Another way of looking at things is the Mamiya is acting like a tilt-shift lens with no tilt of shift! That is, I'm not using all the glass that is in the lens. 

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce