Getting to know your camera: Focal length and angle of view.

For the first exercise I am exploring focal length and angle of view. I took my camera outside with my first lens fitted, a 24 - 105 mm. My point of focus is where the wall meets the window about half way up the wall. With one eye looking through the view finder and the other open looking at the same scene, I attempted to get the two views equal. I found it pretty tricky but eventually the two views seemed to align at just under 50mm. This should be the 'standard' focal length for this lens and most similar to my normal angle of view.

From the same location I then took a shot at the most extreme telephoto setting and a further one with my wide angle lens (17 -40mm) set at 17mm. The images were printed on A4 paper and the prints taken back outside to the location where they were shot.

Holding up the 'standard' shot and matching it to the scene, it appeared about the same size at arms length. The close-up from the telephoto lens needed to be held a little further than arms length and the wide angle shot needed to be placed about ten to twelve inches from my eye to become the same size as the scene.