My main go-to equipment:
- Sony A7s II,
- Sony FE 55mm f1.8 and
- Sony FE 16mm-35mm f4.
Within this range of focal length I have quite a good feel for what picture is at what focal length.
I recently added a Sony FE 70mm-200mm F4 to my arsenal and must say, that my intuition regarding focal length abandons me whilst using this lens.
What I try to do is: before I look through the viewfinder, I try to draw the frame in my mind, as to what is in the shot, and how much of the total picture it is going to cover. I quite fail with the 70mm-200mm.
Now there are 2 things I thought of;
- The range from 16mm-55mm is more narrow than 70mm-200mm.
- The ultra-wide angles are more recognizable I think due to the strong surrealistic look, so that covers a few focal lengths.
My question is; how do you regard your intuition on focal lengths? What would your experience dictate on whether this can be learned/trained?
Sidenote: The idea that one could determine the focal lengths of single shots in a movie intrigues me.