Curious Conundrum Nikon lens Metrics

Us old folks who used 35mm film are familiar with the 35mm lenses. So a FF/FX equivalent helps us visualize what a crop sensor lens will do.

I still do this with my DX camera, multiplying the focal length by 1.5x, to get to 35mmFX equivalent. But I am doing this less and less, and just getting used to the DX perspective.

But there is a whole generation of people who have never used a 35mm/FF/FX camera, so they do not have that reference point. So to tell them something like 50mm equivalent, tells them nothing. In fact the concept of a normal lens is different. For them the 18-55 might be their "normal" lens, not a 50mm prime.

I do a format disconnect when I use my 6x6 and 4x5 cameras.

I simply reference from the "normal" lens that I use for that format as a 1x lens, and any other lens is a magnification factor based on that "normal" lens.

Examples:

• 35mm: normal lens = 50mm; the 28mm is 0.6x, the 105mm is 2.1x
   
  
• 6x6: normal lens = 80mm; the 50mm is 0.6x, the 150mm is 1.9x
  
• 4x5: normal lens = 150mm; the 90mm is 0.6x, the 300mm is 2x
  

Thinking magnification factor, helps me to jump between formats easier, because when I change formats the H:V ratio may change, and thus the view of the normal lens may change. So I cannot say 35mm equivalent with a 6x6 or 4x5 camera, because the H:V ratios are not the same.