Standard VIEW

You may know there is the camera lens called standard lens (and the wide-angle lens, tele-photo lens etc).

Is it a kind of lens, camera manufacturer arbitrarily named it, just for a convenience ?

Or, is there any standard of vision exists ?

Whether you aware or not, you are looking an image, photo or painting  with standard view.

You may not believe it —— so, just try, and find it.

Look at a cover photo on the magazine and a poster on the wall ——- have you done ?

Do you noticed,  when you see a cover photo of a magazine,  with  what distance did you look at it.

The distance from your eyes to the magazine was about 12″~14″ (30cm ~ 35cm) as this distance gives

the most clear vision. (unless you got short or far eye-sighted)

Closer than this, you can’t see whole picture. Further than this, it’s too far to see the details.

And if the image you looked at was about A4, the diagonal size was 14″, and the eyes to cover this size

of image, the angle of view  was about 45 degrees.

When you see a big poster, you don’t look at in this distance, unless you need to see the detail. —– you

step back and see it from a distance.  Then you may realized, in fact you are looking the image always

in the same scale —— if it was small, you give a close look, and see a big image from the distance.

The reason is, our vision in our eyes can see this size of image most clear and reasonably in detail.

If the image spread much wider, like a land-scape,  to see the whole detail we have to look around.

And if we need to see more detail such as to read the letters, we need to capture the image, in the

center of eyes,  within the angle of about 18 degrees.

So that, to see the image of 14″ size, in distance of 14″  which is about 45 degree of vision, gives best image.

Best image is in the vision of not too wide or narrowly concentrated just in the middle.  Middle way in vision.

Therefore the photographic lens which can produce this angle of view  has been  named ” Standard Lens “.

Before the digital revolution, the camera meant 35mm camera.  And the lens which gives this angle of

view was happened to be about 50mm, hence 50mm lens was accustomed to call, Standard Lens.

A photo image taken by a standard lens and printed to about 9″x 12″, viewed from 14″ away,  it looks

most natural and having the same perspective. (If the same photo was enlarged to twice big, then look it

from the twice distance, it will give the same perspective —– angle of view is still 45 degree)

—— With this reason, the great photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was using only standard lens

(wide angle lens was for land scape only ) saying ” My lens is my eyes ” and only shot

from the normal eye level.  Because, to do his photography, he didn’t want to rely on the optical

effect but the natural way to see the life, just as an ordinary man.

So, the standard view is not only with a camera lens but our eyes having the same standard.

And this standard view, not too wide, not too narrow, just in the middle was what

the Dharma gave us.—— Therefore, this is the visual equivalent of the Middle Way.

—— Though, I hate standard lens. 😀

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