HCB & 50mm Lens

[andy_sprauer]

Is it true HCB used nothing but a 50mm lens on his Leica M & nothing

else?

[dennis_couvillion]

While the 50mm lens was Cartier-Bresson's mainstay he reportedly used 35mm and 90mm lenses on occasion.

[paul_neuthaler]

Mostly just the 50. He said he "never even saw a 135!" Sometimes he used a 35 for landscape -- I never saw any comments on the 90; I would believe he had one. But I have read that his exposure judgement was awful & that his long-time "processor" was driven nuts salvaging his photos.

[denis_pleic]

While we're at it, I wonder if anyone has any info on the lens used for his "(Sunday) On the banks of Marne"? That one definitely doesn't look like 50mm perspective - but I might be wrong...

[ronald_moravec1]

I saw an interview with HCB and Charlie Rose on PbS. When asked the question, he held up his hands as if to pray but did not allow them to touch and said this was his field of view only.

[andy_sprauer]

In my opinion - most were made with a 35mm.

[jim_a]

<img src="http://www.magnumphotos.com/LowRes2/TR3/F/P/3/H/PAR19182.jpg" alt=""><br>

You can't tell me this was shot with a 50. <a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf_MAG.aspx?Stat=Photographers_Portfolio&E=29YL53IQ1W7">More HC-B</a>

[beau 1664876222]

Supposedly almost everything was done with the very same lens -- a collapsible 50mm summicron that he kept throughout his career, even as he upgraded to whatever the latest M body was.

[gerald_widen]

I believe he mostly used a Zeis 50mm on a Leica body. Moving thru I, II, III series screw mounts as they progressed thru the Leica factory. By the time he would be able to use a 50mm collapsible Summicron his photo career was mostly in the past.

[beau 1664876222]

When HCB visited America, he supposedly decided that the 35 was the right focal length for the visual feel of the U.S.A. and used that mostly while here. Ultimately he decided he didn't like America very much and didn't like the 35 much either.

 

The rest of his stuff is almost exclusively 50mm. Most photographers using a 50 cannot create the sense of space and perspective he achieved with that lens. But just because you can't do it doesn't mean he didn't -- his compositional skills were uncanny.

[billc1]

Issue 34 on page 43 in the Black and White magazine, what camera and lens is HCB holding there? Also what lens hood is that? Just curious.

[john dorfman]

In a portrait taken in the early 1930s by Hoyningen-Huene, HCB has a 35/3.5

Elmar on his Leica and a worn-looking 73/1.9 Hektor on the chair next to him. And in

a shot of HCB taken in NYC by Clemens Kalischer in the late 40s, he's got a Contax-

mount Zeiss Biogon 35/2.8 on his Leica, using one of those now-scarce adapters.

[anthony_brookes5]

This subject has come up before and Bank of the Marne was taken with the standard lens. If I find the source I'll identify it.

[feli]

He mostly used a 50, but there are pictures showing him at work with a 35,

90 and even a 135.

 

Odds are that he started out with a 3.5/50 Elmar and moved on to a Zeiss Sonnar 1.5/50,

which he dumped for a collapsible Summicron that he shot with to the end. He also used

the rigid Summicron and what looks like a version 3 or 4 Cron with the clip on hood.

[mattalofs]

"Most photographers using a 50 cannot create the sense of space and perspective he achieved with that lens. But just because you can't do it doesn't mean he didn't -- his compositional skills were uncanny."

 

Yep.

[Aoresteen]

When asked about the 9cm lens, HCB responded, "Oh yeh. It removes the foreground." While he most likely had a 9cm he didn't use it very often.

 

In over 40 years of taking pictures I'm sure HCB used the 35mm as well. But the fact is 90% or better of his published work was made with a 50mm lens.

 

But why does it matter? Just enjoy his photographs!