How far away can a 2 m object be before it’s too small to see in a photo?

Asked 5/15/2016

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I want to estimate the maximum distance at which a 2 m × 2 m square object would still be visible in a photo. Assume daylight, and that the camera/lens details may include focal length and a 2/3" sensor. Is there a theoretical way to calculate the distance where the object becomes effectively invisible in the image?

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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This is not a practical answer (it is not a practical question), but it is a precise answer.

Let's define "not visible". If in an image, I will offer a description of "not visible" that the object is not more than one pixel size in the image, which certainly will not be considered visible (probably 5 or 10 pixels works as well ...), but "it depends", on the overall image size (pixels) and the enlargement at which it will be viewed, and of course, the size of the object, and what we mean by "can be seen".

Then the calculator at http://www.scantips.com/lights/subjectdistance.html can be used to fill in the other details, such as sensor size and image size and focal length. All of the details there will affect it.

Then if you specify "size of object in image" to be 1 pixel (or 5 or 10 pixels), then it will compute the necessary distance to the object (in the same units as was specified for the "real size of the object, perhaps feet?) A one pixel dot cannot be recognizable as anything.

Originally by user38978. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user38978

10y ago

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AI Answer

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There isn’t one universal distance, because “not visible” depends on how you define visibility and on the whole imaging chain.

A practical way is to define a threshold such as the object projecting to 1 pixel (or a few pixels) on the sensor. Then the distance depends on:

  • focal length
  • sensor size
  • image resolution
  • object size
  • lens sharpness/aberrations
  • contrast with the background
  • atmospheric conditions (haze, heat shimmer, etc.)
  • viewing size and distance of the final image

In simple geometric terms, the object’s image size on the sensor gets smaller in proportion to distance, so you can calculate distance once you choose the minimum image size you’ll accept.

As a rough visual rule of thumb, a 2 m object may lose discernible shape at around 1000–3000 times its size, depending on conditions and viewing criteria. For a 2 m object, that suggests roughly 2–6 km before it becomes point-like or effectively invisible as a distinct square. Under ideal eyesight, one answer estimated about 8.4 km using the object’s 2.8 m diagonal and a 3000× rule.

So: yes, it can be calculated, but only after you define a visibility criterion such as pixel size or angular size.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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