Field of View Calculator
Choose your sensor and lens to see how much of the world fits in the frame: the angle across, up and down, and corner to corner, the full-frame equivalent, and the width of the scene at the distance you stand.
The yellow frame is what your lens sees; the dashed frames show other focal lengths (in mm) on the same sensor. The picture is a drawn scene, so the framing is a guide.
Settings
- Across (horizontal)
- 39.6°
- Up and down
- 27.0°
- Corner to corner
- 46.8°
- Full-frame equivalent
- 50 mm
- Scene width at 10 m
- 7.16 m
- Scene height
- 4.78 m
Crop factor 1.00×: a 50 mm lens on this sensor sees what a 50 mm lens sees on full frame. A longer lens sees a narrower slice of the world.
What is field of view?
The field of view (or angle of view) is how much of a scene your camera sees, measured as an angle. A wide lens sees a large angle and fits a lot in; a long lens sees a small angle and shows a narrow slice, magnified. It depends on two things only: the focal length of the lens and the size of the sensor.
Crop factor and equivalent focal length
A smaller sensor sees a narrower slice through the same lens. The crop factor tells you by how much: a 50 mm lens on an APS-C camera (crop factor about 1.5) frames like a 75 mm lens on full frame. That is the equivalent focal length, and it is a handy way to compare cameras and lenses.
Focal length changes the view, distance changes the perspective
Zooming in does not change how big things are relative to each other. Moving does. A wide lens used up close exaggerates the nearer parts of the scene; the same subject shot with a long lens from further away looks flatter and more compressed. To photograph the same subject at the same size with two lenses, stand in a different place, and the background will change.
Field of view questions
Which focal length is closest to human vision?
Around 40 to 50 mm on a full-frame camera is often described as natural, because the angle across (about 40 to 50 degrees) matches the part of the view we pay attention to. The eyes together take in far more, but with much less sharpness at the edges.
What is the equivalent focal length?
It is the focal length that gives the same field of view on a full-frame camera. Multiply the real focal length by the crop factor. It describes the view only; it does not change what the lens does to depth of field or light.
Does a wide-angle lens distort the picture?
The stretching you see at the edges of a very wide picture, and the large noses in close wide portraits, come from where you stand rather than from a fault in the lens. A wide lens simply lets you (and invites you to) stand close.
How do I know how far back to stand?
Set your lens and sensor above, then move the distance slider until the scene width matches the space you want to fit in. For a group of eight people about five metres wide, a 35 mm lens on full frame works from roughly 7 metres.
Why does the full-frame equivalent matter for phones?
Phone makers quote the equivalent focal length because the real focal lengths are only a few millimetres on very small sensors. Choose Phone in the sensor menu to see it.