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 p.3 #20 · What's the point of a 50mm? Or rather, where does a 50mm shine? | |
NJPhotographer wrote:
Henri Cartier-Bresson definitely favored the 50mm. He complained about 35mm having a "shouting" effect and being more difficult to compose with. However, I doubt that virtually very photo he ever made was made with a 50mm. Browsing his photos on the Magnum site, I got the impression that he used 35mm a lot. Apparently, his usual photojournalism kit was 35, 50 and 90, which makes perfect sense as each would be very distinctly useful.
Check out this unidentified person's account of working with Henri in 1975:
https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/04/top-ten-recommended-cameras-8.html?cid=6a00df351e888f8834011570204e68970b#comment-6a00df351e888f8834011570204e68970b
I don't know who that writer is, but he says Henri was then using 40mm for almost everything, and sometimes a 35mm in dark interiors. "He also had the 50mm Summicron in a little bag, but I never saw him using it."
Anyway, I'm a fan of 50mm as it often feels about right, especially for portraits. It has a slight telephoto effect, without feeling distant....Show more →
I'm not sure who your online sources are either. According to Cartier-Bresson's biographer, Pierre Assouline, and according to Cartier-Bresson himself, he strongly preferred the 50mm lens and made most of his images with it. During the 1930s, when he made many of the images for which he is best known, the 50mm lens could not be unscrewed from his Leica.
Cartier-Bresson owned several 50mm lenses. On paid journalistic assignments, he would usually carry two of them, an f/3.5 which he preferred to use and an f/1.5 for when the light was dim. He would also would take with him a 35mm and a 135mm lens, but they were much less used. He sometimes used the 135mm for landscapes, of which he made comparatively few, to eliminate clutter. He didn't like the 35mm lens or any wide-angles. So, most of his images were made with a 50mm lens.
Two quotes. His biographer writes about his discovery of the Leica and the 50mm lens: "The single 50mm lens with a 3.5mm aperture could not be unscrewed. In any case, Cartier-Bresson would not have wanted another, because this one was ideal for capturing his vision of humanity, whereas a longer or wider lens would have distorted it. With this camera and this lens, he felt that he had found perfect harmony. (Pierre Assouline, Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography (Thames and Hudson), p62).
And in a 1952 interview, the interviewer asked him: "And on a story, which lenses do you bring?" HCB replied: "The two 50mm, a 35mm, and a 135mm. Nearly always, I work with standard lenses. For landscape, I usually use the 135mm. I don't work much with a wide-angle lens. There are so many things in the same plane that it makes it difficult to compose. (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Interviews and Conversations (Aperture), p. 22).
HCB did work in a limited way with other cameras and lenses and indeed he also made some motion pictures. One of his most famous photographs, that of Cardinal Pacelli pressed in a crowd, was made with a 9X9 plate camera because his employer required it.
But he strongly preferred the Leica and the 50mm lens and most of his published work was made with this lens and camera. Because his images are virtually always reproduced uncropped, you can see this directly if you examine his work.
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