11 Oct Shorty Forty
The term " Nifty Fifty " was coined a few years ago to make what was the standard focal length for the 35mm camera seem new and exciting for the DSLRs of the time. That's what advertising writers do - they attach adjectives to things and adverbs to actions and hope that you are interested enough to buy the gear. In the case of selling 50mm lenses they were trying to get another lens into the gadget bag to supplement the ubiquitous zoom lenses of the time. Whether these were kit inclusions or outside purchases, the price and design factors at the time meant that most zooms had moderately small maximum apertures and many had variable ones as well. The one-camera amateur might not ever really need more than the kit zoom but the lens makers needed more than one-lens sales. The choice of the 50mm length was a fine recollection of the film era - from the Leica Elmar onwards this focal length was considered the standard view of the world for the format and a great deal of effort was...
