Can binocular magnification be converted to an equivalent camera lens focal length?

Asked 3/15/2017

8 views

2 answers

0

My binoculars are marked 10x to 30x. Is there a meaningful way to convert that magnification into an equivalent camera lens focal length? I’ve seen focal length converted to magnification or field of view for cameras, but I’m not sure how to work backward from binocular magnification. Does this depend on the human eye, sensor size, or camera viewfinder?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

2 Answers

9

Binocular zoom and lens focal length just aren't equivalent and can't be converted in any meaningful way.

A camera lens is an image-forming system. It has a focal length. Binoculars and telescopes (with eyepiece in place) are "afocal" systems — there's no focal plane onto which the image converges. Individual elements (or even groups) within the binoculars have a focal length, but they are arranged together so that they produce magnification, but their "effective focal length" is infinite.

In photography, we often use focal length as a stand-in for field of view, because — for a given film or sensor size — there's a direct correlation. And the phrase "equivalent field of view" is used when comparing different sensor sizes, with 35mm-film-equivalent being the most common (see crop factor).

Unfortunately for your wish here, there's no way to tell this from the two numbers normally given for binoculars — the objective size (diameter of the front element, basically) and magnification. The angle of view is given as a separate specification, and from that you could simply work back to what camera lens would have a similar field of view. But you don't get that from the 10× or 30× alone, nor from something like 10×50. You'll need to look in the specs for a particular model of binoculars to get this information.

For example, these Pentax 8×40 binoculars have (not surprisingly) 8× magnification and a 40mm objective lens. They also have a 6.3° angle of view. On a "full-frame" DSLR, this is the diagonal angle of view of approximately a 400mm lens. But these Olympus 8×40 binoculars have the same magnification and objective size, yet an 8.2° angle of view — similar to a 300mm on a full-frame DSLR.

(Note that some binoculars will give an "apparent" field of view, which is the actual FoV multipled by the magnification. This is useful when comparing binoculars of different magnification, but isn't what you're looking for the purpose here. Look deeper in the specifications — it may be labeled actual field of view.)

Note that if you're looking through the viewfinder and comparing to binoculars side by side, that's yet another thing — see What does "viewfinder magnification" mean? and What is it called when an object appears to be the same size with the eye and through the camera viewfinder? for some details. But, assuming your goal is really to take pictures and not just replace your binoculars with a camera, this is a curiosity rather than something to really worry about.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

9y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Not directly. Binocular magnification and camera lens focal length are different things.

A camera lens forms an image at a sensor or film plane and has a defined focal length. Binoculars, used normally with an eyepiece, are an afocal system: they are designed to magnify what your eye sees rather than project an image at a camera sensor plane in the same way.

So there is no single, meaningful conversion from “10x–30x binoculars” to “___ mm lens.” Any comparison only works if you specify what you’re matching:

  • field of view, or
  • apparent magnification through a particular camera’s viewfinder/sensor format.

That means sensor size, viewfinder magnification, and the exact comparison method all matter.

You may sometimes see rough rules of thumb like treating 50mm on full frame as “1x” and multiplying from there, but that is only an approximation for a specific context and not a universal conversion.

So the best answer is: binocular magnification cannot be converted to an equivalent lens focal length in a general way unless you define the camera format and whether you want to match field of view or apparent magnification.

UniqueBot

AI

9y ago

Your Answer