Cropped Sensors and Equivalent Focal Length: the same as 35mm?
I have a question about equivalent focal lengths with APS-C sized sensors. I have been shooting film rangefinders and digital everything for about a year. I am considering putting myself on a camera diet--picking one focal length and shooting only that camera as a means of improving my skills. In my musings I came upon a question. For a less-than-full-frame sensor to be equivalent to a 35mm focal length a shorter and more wide angle lens is required. This is why Fuji for example has the 23mm lens on the X100. So, because a wider-angle lens is used, is the perspective rendered differently, in terms of the relationship between near and far objects? It is widely known that wide angle lenses make more distant objects appear artificially far away, is this effect true for the equivalent of a given 35mm lens on an APS-C sensor? Does a 23mm lens on a cropped sensor give the same distorted near/far relationship, even though only a smaller portion of the image circle is being used? I hope the question makes sense--I am trying to see if, for all intents and purposes a cropped sensor/lens combo can be used like the 35mm equivalent, or if this is just another reason to shoot film. I guess the best way to compare would be to take a frame with a full-frame digital or film camera and a given focal length and use the equivalent on a cropped sensor and take the same picture and compare how the perspective is rendered--but I'm hoping this information already exists on the internet or collective wisdom of RFF.