Hi again, Charlton,
Not that I want to beat a dead horse, but...
Looking at your original post again, I wonder if your not a bit confused about
camera format and lens size (focal length), since in the case of your camera,
they're both expressed in millimetres.
When one says that a camera is a 35mm camera, that just tells you what film is
in it. You can get much larger film or much smaller film, for different
cameras. You're camera takes images that are about 24mm by 36mm on the film
surface, but it's kind of rounded to the nearest "5", and we call it 35mm film.
Since your camera uses that film we call your camera a 35mm camera.
Lenses are also measured in millimetres, but that refers to the "focal length"
of a lens. Going back to my last post, remember a focal length that's a smaller
number means that you have a wider angle lens. Bigger numbers mean a longer, or
telephoto lens. So far, I've only been referring to what's called "prime
lenses" also called "fixed focal length lenses".
You likely know that there are what's called "zoom lenses". These are lenses
with variable focal lengths. They are expressed by two numbers, one for the
widest focal length, one for the longest focal length. So, you'll see a zoom
that's 35mm-70mm. That, obviously will cover all focal lengths from 35mm to
70mm.
Maybe you know all of this stuff, and if so, my apologies if I sound
patronizing. But, it's pretty basic camera stuff. If you didn't know it, I
would suggest acquiring a book on the basics of photography. It will be very
helpful to exploit what your camera can do. Many people use their 35mm
auto-cameras as point and shoot cameras ("what do I need to know about shutter
speeds and apertures and that crap?"), and then wonder why their photographs are
no better than mediocre.
cheers,
frank
Charlton Vaughan wrote:
> Hi group,
>
> Since I'm a (what I consider) a novice at photography, I don't do this
> professionally, I really am not knowledgeable about terms, etc.,
>
> My camera is an SLR, or what I've always thought of as a 35mm camera, one of
> the lens that act as a regular lens with limited macro says it's a 58mm
> lens, another (Takumar) says it's a 55-58mm lens. I was looking at the
> Pentax Flash AF360FGZ listed on the Pentax website that someone referred me
> to. The flash is listed as "covering" a 28mm. What does it mean to "cover"
> a 28mm lens? Does this mean that my 58mm 0r 55-58mm lens is incompatible
> with the flash? Does this also mean that it will not fit a 35mm camera...as
> you can see...I'm soooo confused.
>
> Charlton
>
> If I had wanted to put up with "high maintenance" I would have married a
> primadonna with a Harley.
>
> www.geocities.com/siarlbychan
>
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