Camera / focal length

[richardh]

This [in]famous photo of 13 Miller's Court; What camera and more importantly, what focal length / angle of view was used (as a guesstimate)?

Also, the two windows to No.13 (particularly the large window) look distored to me. They are not both on the same horizontal plane. I mean if you look at the sill of the small window it is parallel to the floor but the larger window is not parallel. Could this photo (reprint) have been distored over time?

ta

[Stephen Thomas]

This [in]famous photo of 13 Miller's Court; What camera and more importantly, what focal length / angle of view was used (as a guesstimate)?

Also, the two windows to No.13 (particularly the large window) look distored to me. They are not both on the same horizontal plane. I mean if you look at the sill of the small window it is parallel to the floor but the larger window is not parallel. Could this photo (reprint) have been distorted over time?

Well spotted, Richard. I'd never noticed that the windowsills were not parallel and they aren't. There is a lot of distortion on the photo, for instance the drainpipe and the wall with Kelly's door which should be vertical but are not. This is the result of using a wide angle lens (about 30mm had it been 35mm film) which gives a greater depth of field, as you will be well aware, but distorts perspective.

The windowsills obviously weren't parallel but then again, so what?

The chance of the photo being distorted in the way you suggest in reproductions is zero.

[MrBarnett]

Hi,

The top of the smaller window appears to be in line with the top of the door, though. Could it be that at some point an earlier door was partially blocked up and made into a window? Or alternatively that the larger window was punched through as an afterthought without any attempt to line it up with the other features?

MrB

[MrBarnett]

Hi again,

Just noticed what appears to be a change in level - a step? - below the middle of the larger window. The higher sill may have been deliberate to keep a minimum distance from ground level.

Also, there seems to be a joint in the drainpipe so the two separate pipes could well have been out of line in reality without any photographic distortion.

MrB