How do you calculate depth-of-field and bokeh equivalence between medium format and full frame?
Asked 7/25/2020
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How do you calculate an equivalent aperture when comparing two formats for the same framing and similar perceived background blur?
For example, if one camera is full frame (24×36mm) with a 50mm lens, and the other is a larger format such as 56×84mm, what focal length on the larger format gives the same field of view, and how should the f-number be adjusted to get similar depth of field / blur appearance?
More generally: what is the relationship between sensor or film size, equivalent focal length, circle of confusion, and aperture when people talk about “bokeh equivalence”?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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As to exposure, the lens aperture is unchanged. Your lens is always f/3.5, it is never affected by film size. It is affected by very close macro focus distances (fstop Number = focal length / aperture diameter).
As to Field of View, any Equivalent focal length is computed from the diagonal, so it matters if your film is 6x6 cm, 6x7 cm, or 6x9 cm. Assuming 6x6 cm, the diagonal is 79.2 mm (which is crop factor 0.55x).
The 35 mm diagonal is 43.3 mm, so the field of view on 35 mm film would be the same if using a (90 mm x 43.3/79.2) = 49.2 mm focal length on 35 mm film. My site has that calculator at https://www.scantips.com/lights/cropfactor3.html (third calculator).
My site also has a DOF calculator at https://www.scantips.com/lights/dof.html which will allow insisting on any CoC you care to enter. That does not change the DOF that the lens and film does, but it does change the resulting calculated DOF distance numbers (where that CoC would apply).
Circle of Confusion is affected by print enlargement, which is affected by film size (if printing the same standard 8x10 print). On 35 mm film, it would change the standard 6x6 CoC of 0.055 mm to become 0.03 mm for 35 mm film, which is the same 43.3/79.2 factor.
But standard CoC (as viewed enlarged to the standard 8x10 inch print size) is computed from (diagonal mm / a divisor), which divisor is normally either 1500 or 1442. It is often said to be 1500, but the standard CoC numbers we see are usually computed with 1442. CoC is not really optional, it relates CoC to the smallest point the human eye might see on an 8x10 inch standard enlargement (but human eyesight does vary).
Originally by user38978. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user38978
5y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For equivalence, separate three things:
- Exposure: f-number does not change with format. An f/3.5 lens is still f/3.5 regardless of film/sensor size.
- Field of view: match focal length using the ratio of format diagonals (“crop factor”). Example: full frame diagonal is 43.3mm; 56×84mm is about 101.0mm, so crop factor is 43.3/101.0 ≈ 0.429. A 50mm full-frame view corresponds to about 117mm on 56×84mm.
- Depth of field / blur equivalence: once framing is matched, equivalent f-number scales by the same crop-factor ratio. So a larger format needs a numerically larger f-number to give similar DoF/blur appearance.
Using the example above:
- 50mm at f/1.8 on full frame
- ≈117mm on 56×84mm needs about f/4.2 (1.8 / 0.429) for similar DoF / blur equivalence.
So the general rule is:
- Equivalent focal length = original focal length ÷ crop factor
- Equivalent f-number for similar DoF = original f-number ÷ crop factor
Circle of confusion itself is not a fixed physical constant; it depends on viewing assumptions, but equivalence calculations usually scale it with format size.
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