Zoom versus distance away from object

Dermit wrote in post #5510085
Long focal length compresses depth. It makes things look closer together.

No it doesn't.
Perspective is only affected by distance.

big_apple_ken wrote in post #5508558
How exactly will a photo change if say we:

• Stood 1 foot away from an object and shot with the zoom lens set to 100mm
  
• Stood 1/2 foot away from an object and shot with the zoom lens set to 50mm

I'm a totally rookie so I'm curious what the difference is. From all my readings it seems to suggest if you can get closer to an object and use less zoom you should do it. Is it because you can use a lower f-stop when you are closer or maybe there is less noise?

Ken

Why talk about it here? Why not go and see for yourself?

René Damkot wrote in post #5510390
No it doesn't.
Perspective is only affected by distance.

Rene,

I don't understand what you are saying. What I am saying is given a set of objects at the same distance from each other (near, medium, far... not left to right) if you shoot them with a 24mm and then with the 200mm the image shot with the 200mm will make it appear as if the objects are closer together than they appear to be in the 24mm shot (again, depth-wise). Are you disagreeing with this? If so, I don't understand because this is exactly my experience that i se and use this techinique all the time to emphasize or de-emphasis relative distances in a scene.

What he is saying is changing focal length DOES NOT change perspective, and he is correct,

Changing distance changes perspective.

Now, changing focal length often results in a side effect of changing distance to maintain the same framing,. but it was not the change in focal length that changed the perspective, it was the change in distance.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #5510449
Why talk about it here? Why not go and see for yourself?

This was my first thought too!!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #5510492
What he is saying is changing focal length DOES NOT change perspective, and he is correct,

Changing distance changes perspective.

Now, changing focal length often results in a side effect of changing distance to maintain the same framing,. but it was not the change in focal length that changed the perspective, it was the change in distance.

Ah, yes. Agreed. Absolutely true.

michaelgreen78 wrote in post #5510522
This was my first thought too!!

Sorry rather inquisitive and was here at work. Couldn't wait 12 hours before I go home and try it out...haha.