PHOTOGRAPHY- 6

 PHOTOGRAPHY- 6

LENSES- III  and Camera

Well, it is only now, I deem it fit to touch upon ‘Normal /Standard’ lenses. There is no specific reason as to why should I do it after the other kind of lens varieties. As the nomenclature goes, other lens kinds are ‘away’ from normal, while the ‘Normal’ is termed the ‘Standard’ . Simply the image generated through ‘Normal’ corresponds to the average perception by human eye.

As laid out earlier, focal length more than 35 mm comes under the definition of ‘Standard lens’.

This gave a lot of ‘leeway’ to manufacturers to fit optics of focal length 45 mm, 47mm, 50mm, 55mm –all as ‘standaed optics’ on their Camera brand.  There was nothing of any specific advantage to the buyer , except to tempt him/her saying ‘no need to look for tele lense’ as our basic lens has focal length close to that of a low end Tele lens. But picture taking can intoxicate beginners and drive them to go for other optics sooner or later/

At tis juncture it is relevant to remind readers that an invention of sorts    was behind the surge in optical sophistications  leading to a global demand for refined equipment capable of very high versatility. It was a camera design popular as SLR- an abbreviation for a highly venerated assembly known as SINGLE LENS REFLEX Camera design.

Well, the onus has descended on me to define the ‘why and what’ of camera design. In its native form, the camera was a near rectangular black box, with 3 eyes. Of them  2 used to be smaller along the 2 l edges on the front face , while the third was a bigger circular lens in the centre of the frontal face. The larger lens was the “Taking lens” [as it helps ‘taking the picture’] and the smaller ones were ‘VIEWING LENSES’ [AS THEY PERMIT VIEWING THE SCENE –as is likely to be registered as ‘image’. The two lenses were independent of each other in throwing up the view on the viewfinder. There used tobe 2 separate viewfinders helping to choose a vertical or a horizontal image by turning the camera flat on broadside or keeping it vertical while shooting. Most such designs were mere compromises without serving fine picture needs. Thereafter, refined Cameras named REFLEX MODELS Came about. [Reflex meant throwing up an image to a viewfinder [fresnal screen/ Ground glass  by a finepolished mirror held at 45^o angle , making viewing and focussing far more effective. Consequently the camera had 2 lenses [Viewing/ Taking] by independent lenses but of identical optical features like focal length, sharpness, resolution andabilty to yield images composed on the view finder.

So, they were named TLR [Twin lens reflex] Cameras.