Camera lens measurements explained full#

This is most commonly associated with aperture, where a large aperture results in a narrow depth of field (and vice-versa), but focal length is another key factor in determining the depth of field.ДЄt any given aperture, a shorter focal length will result in a wider depth of field while a longer focal length will result in a narrower one. Distance from your subject and lens length will also affect this.Дepth of field is how wide or narrow of an area is in focus. Depth of FieldДЄssuming your focus point and focus distance stay the same, your aperture is going to control whether you have a narrow or a large depth of field. This is most commonly seen in fish-eye lenses where everything seems to get squeezed into a circle. In order to fill the frame with a face when using a wide angle lens, you have to be so close that the nearest facial features (specifically the nose) appear far larger than features farther away.ДЄdditionally, in certain ultra-wide lenses you run into barrel distortion, which is when the angle of view gets so wide that features appear to bend where they donвЂ™t in real life. Close up pictures of faces, for example, can suffer significantly from perspective distortion if shot with a wide angle lens. However, perspective distortion can also be a negative you want to avoid. Many moon photographs are taken with very long focal length lenses to make the moon appear much larger compared to other objects in the shot than it would appear in real life. In some cases, perspective distortion can be used creatively. This is called perspective distortion or lens compression. The closer an object is to you, the more its size will change. However, this difference wonвЂ™t be the same for everything. Moving closer or farther will make a subject appear larger or smaller in an image, but it also makes everything else appear larger or smaller as well. Top image taken at 24mm, bottom image taken at 400mm. DistortionД®xample of how relative background size and lens length relate to one another from How Lens Length Affects Apparent Background Size: An Example Using the Moon. You will need a wider lens to achieve the same image. If you shoot a crop sensor camera, keep this crop factor in mind when choosing a focal length to use.

Camera lens measurements explained full#

Because a crop sensor is smaller, it will only record a portion of what a full frame sensor would record, resulting in a narrower angle of view. Focal lengths are generally categorized based on full frame sensors (and 35mm film before that). However, depending on the sensor size of your camera, the field of view will be different. The distance from the convergence point to the sensor will be the same regardless of what camera you use. One thing to keep in mind is that by definition focal lengths are the same on all cameras. In many cases, if you want something larger or smaller in your image, you can move closer or farther away. This has an obvious impact on the composition of your image, but there might be some flexibility in terms of what focal length you can choose to use. Conversely, the longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view, the more вЂњzoomed inвЂќ on an image you will be. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view, the more of a scene you are going to capture. The field or angle of view is what determines how вЂњzoomed inвЂќ a lens is. While it might be interesting to know exactly what a focal length is, what is more important is what affects different focal lengths have on an image. This is why there are вЂњpancakeвЂќ 50mm lenses that are far smaller than standard 50mm lenses and why some zoom lenses are built with fixed, non-moving front elements. There is a correlation between the length of the lens and the focal length, but different lens designs can bend the light in different ways. More accurately, focal length is the distance from this convergence point to the sensor. When a lens focuses light onto a sensor, the light is bent in such a way that it converges on itself before continuing onto the sensor. What is Focal Length?ДЇocal length is the distance from the front of the lens to the sensor. If youвЂ™re wondering why should you choose one focal length over another, we break down everything you need to know. Some shots will require a relatively specific focal length, while others may be able to choose between different focal lengths for creative purposes.Д¬amera lenses have many characteristics. Not only do different focal lengths have different fields of view, but they can also introduce perspective distortion and affect the depth of field. While this is true, there is more to choosing your focal length. Photography newbies often think of focal length as being how вЂњzoomed inвЂќ to an image you are. There are many factors that work together to create an image and one of the most important is the focal length of your lens.