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What focal length ranges are generally considered wide-angle, normal, and telephoto?
Answer provided by Janice Myers, Karen Towner, and Mike Collins.
As applied to 35mm film cameras, a wide-angle lens is any lens that falls in the focal length range of anywhere up to 35mm. A so-called normal lens is in the range of 35mm up to 65 mm. Anything from 65mm on up is considered a telephoto lens. Popular fixed sizes in each range are as follows:
- Wide-angle: 18mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm
- Normal: 50mm and 55mm
- Telephoto: 70mm, 90mm, 105mm, 135mm, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm, 500mm, 600mm, and 800mm
Normal lenses are so-called because they most closely match the angle of vision seen by the human eye.
References:
Definition of focal length