Do lenses with the same focal length give the same field of view on the same camera?
Asked 1/23/2016
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If I mount two different lenses with the same stated focal length on the same camera body, should they always produce the same field of view? I’m confused because some lenses are marketed as wide-angle while others are not. Can two lenses with the same focal length show different framing, and if so, why?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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A certain focal-length given a fixed sensor-size is expected to show the same field of view. That is, on the same camera, two lenses of the same focal-length will give the same field-of-view. There are two catches however:
- Focal-lengths are often rounded to conventional numbers. For example, a 35mm lens may be in fact a 34mm or 36mm, or even fractional. With very wide lenses where it makes a difference, it is sometimes quoted in 0.5mm increment since a 10.5mm lens show a noticeably different field-of-view than a 10mm one but you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a 300.5mm and 300mm lens.
- The field-of-view frequently varies by focus-distance. You may see a certain field-of-view with the 50mm lens at infinity and a different angle when the lens is focused at 2m, for example. When a manufacturer quotes the field-of-view, it is usually with the lens focused at infinity, unless it is not capable of focusing that far, as can happen with some specialty lenses. How field-of-view varies relative to the focus-distance depends on the lens construction, so not all 35mm lenses change their field-of-view the same way when focused.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
On the same camera sensor, lenses with the same focal length are expected to give essentially the same field of view.
A few things can make them differ slightly:
- focal lengths are often rounded, so two “35mm” lenses may not be exactly identical
- field of view can change with focus distance on some lenses, so framing at infinity may differ a bit from close focus
- distortion matters, especially with ultra-wide lenses
- fisheye and rectilinear wide-angle lenses can show different fields of view even at the same stated focal length because they map the scene differently
So in normal use, same focal length + same sensor size means same general framing. The “wide-angle” label mainly refers to how that focal length behaves on a given sensor size, not that one 35mm lens should inherently be wider than another 35mm lens on the same camera. Small real-world differences do exist, but they are usually minor unless you are comparing specialty wide lenses such as fisheyes.
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