Introduction- Getting to know your camera

Exercise 1 Focal length and angle of view

Aims: To find the "standard" focal length of my camera
             Take 3 photo's from the same point from standard, wide angle and telephoto focal length.
            Print the photo's and hold them from the same point that I took them, noting the distance from my eye to the print when both images appear the same size.

I used my 18-55mm lens for the first two photo's. Finding the standard focal length was a new experience and I found it strange to take the photo's with both eyes open as opposed to just looking through the viewfinder. I found the "standard" focal length was 55mm. I had expected the result to be around 25mm as my camera has 4/3 size senser, but after repeating the exercise several times, I still got the same results. I suspect reasons for this could be the 1.5x crop factor and the 0.8x viewfinder magnification, but I will read more about this to make certain. (http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/slrs/nikon_d3000).

The wide angle photo was taken at 18mm focal length

I changed to my telephoto lens and took the photo at 300mm focal length.

I then printed each on A4 paper and stood at the same point where I took the photo's. Holding them out in front of me, I matched the photo so it was the same size as the object. I found that the distance between my eye and the first photo (standard) was about 55cm. The wide angle distance was about 18cm and the telephoto was around 3 meters.
The standard print was held comfortable distance, whereas the wide was too close and the telephoto was too far to hold, even at arms length.
55mm -> 55cm (550mm)
18mm -> 18cm (180mm)
300mm -> 300cm (3000mm)