Beyond The Normal Point Of View

Most experienced photographers will advice a newcommer to use a ‘normal’ lens. But what is a normal lens? What lies beyond that? how does a point of view change when a wide angle lens is used? We answer all these questions in this article with insights into both the normal, and beyond that.

- Souradeep Roy

What is a normal lens? 

A normal lens, also known as prime lens or block lens, is the closest approximation of a viewing angle to the perspective of the human eye. In other words, it is the closest a lens can get to the normal viewing angle of a human eye. This is one of the primary reasons why many photographers use this lens. The images shot with this lens are regarded to be the most pleasing to the eye. For a full frame camera, the 35mm lens is the normal lens and for a cropped sensor camera it translates to 50mm focal length roughly. These lenses are also widely regarded to be the most used lenses because they, being fixed focal length lenses, have lesser number of lens elements and produce much better results compared to a zoom lens set at the same focal length.

What is a wide angle lens?

A wide angle lens is a lens that provides a much wider angle of view compared to a normal lens. Most cameras come with kit lenses that have a wide to tele zoom (Eg. 18-105mm) for an all in one application. The truely wide angle lenses, like the 11-16mm or 11-20mm etc have a very wide angle of view and are used by documentary, landscape and architecture photographers alike. The wide angle lens is widely regarded as an essential in a photographer’s bag. While many choose to completely avoid it due to certain drawbacks that we will discuss further on, many choose to only use it, creating a style of their own.

Why do people advice against it?