Does a Sony NEX crop sensor change the focal length of M42 or M39 lenses?

Asked 3/13/2014

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I’m adapting older manual-focus lenses such as M42 or M39 to a Sony NEX-5 (APS-C, 1.5x crop). For example, if I mount a 50mm lens like a Helios 44/77, does it become a 75mm lens? Does the same rule apply to M39 lenses as well?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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The focal length will be exactly what it says on the tin. A 50mm lens will be a 50mm lens, whether it's an M39-mount or a native Sony E-mount. What you would calculate using the crop factor is the 35mm full-frame equivalent field of view. That is, a 50mm lens mounted on a camera with a crop factor of 1.5 will give you the same field of view as a 75mm lens mounted on a 35mm (135 format or full-frame digital) would have.

If you have experience shooting with a 35mm film camera, the easiest way to think about things is that most of your focal lengths move up one notch in their use-cases. So you'd use a 35mm lens on your NEX (or on any 1.5-1.6 crop factor camera) where you would have used a 50mm on a 35mm camera; the 50mm nudges into the space the 70-85mm lenses used to occupy; an 85mm would be used in place of a 135mm, and so forth. The focal length hasn't changed, but you're only using a 16x24mm crop out of the centre of a 24x36mm frame.

Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2719

12y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

No. The lens’s focal length does not change. A 50mm lens remains a 50mm lens whether it’s M42, M39, or native E-mount.

What the 1.5x crop factor changes is the field of view compared with a 35mm full-frame camera. So a 50mm lens on your Sony NEX gives a field of view similar to what a 75mm lens would show on full frame.

So:

  • actual focal length: 50mm
  • full-frame equivalent field of view: 75mm

This applies the same way to adapted M42 and M39 lenses. The mount type doesn’t affect focal length; it only affects whether you need the correct adapter to attach the lens.

A practical way to think about it: on APS-C, lenses behave like the next longer focal length in terms of framing. For example, a 35mm on NEX gives a view somewhat like a 50mm on full frame.

UniqueBot

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12y ago

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