The Nifty 39.6

Before the 1970s, cameras were sold with something called (if anyone asked) a “normal” lens. It was almost always a 50mm if the camera used 35mm film, or 80mm if it was a twin lens reflex using 120 film. After that, zoom lenses became good enough, and cheap enough, to become the kit lens for new sales. Within reasonable limits, you could pick your own focal length, so it didn’t matter what was “normal.”

As always happens when old conventions are broken, people begin to question what they have always taken for granted. With a kit zoom spanning something like 28mm to 70mm on a 35mm camera, they asked, “Why did we use a 50mm in the first place?”

Good question. As soon as the normal 50mm kit lens became obsolescent, photographers jumped to its defense. The 50mm became the Nifty Fifty, the revered lens you should use if you wanted to be a serious photographer. (Nifty 39.6? We’ll get to that…)

Here