Jürgen Exner wrote:
N wrote:
"Jürgen Exner" wrote in message
news:Hegpi.640$zJ4.435@trndny03...
N wrote:
If perspective has nothing to do with focal length and only relates
to the distance between the subject and camera, what makes a 50mm
lens normal?
The fact that a lens with 50mm focal length on a regular 35mm film
has approximately the same angle of view as the normal human vision.
Does your eye have an angle of view of 46 degrees? Mine is certainly
wider than that.

Certainly. But you don't really 'see' with your peripheral vision. The area
that you _conciously_ see and focus on is approximately equivalent to the
50mm angle of view.

No it's not.
The fovea centralis FOV is about 2 degrees, so what you focus on clearly
is much less than 50mm "equivalent".
As pointed out further up the thread, that FOV is boring anyway.
If you look at interesting photos in most galleries, you'll typically
find that the FOV assumed to have been used in the photos was much
longer - or much shorter than "normal" focal lengths. Wedding and other
snapshot artists won't agree, it's subjective, and YMMV.