How large do the Sun and Moon appear on the sensor at a given focal length?

Asked 9/27/2013

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I want to photograph the Sun or Moon with a telephoto lens and estimate how much of the frame they will fill at different focal lengths on full-frame or APS-C cameras. Is there a simple formula to calculate the image size on the sensor, or a rule of thumb for how large the Sun/Moon will appear?

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

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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The size of the sun or moon in mm in the sensor plane will be approximately

f / 110

where f is your focal length. A typical APS-C sensor is 16mm tall (or 15mm for Canon), hence a 1760mm lens would be required to fill the frame (vertically). 800mm would get you about half the frame, 400mm one quarter etc.

A "full frame" sensor is 24mm tall, so you'd need 2640mm to fill the frame, better get stacking those TCs!

Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1375

12y ago

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AI Answer

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

Yes. The Sun and Moon each subtend about 0.5° in the sky, which is about 0.009 radians. For distant subjects, the image size on the sensor is approximately:

image size ≈ focal length × 0.009

A handy rule of thumb is:

image size ≈ f / 110

where f is the focal length in mm, and the result is the diameter of the Sun or Moon on the sensor in mm.

Examples:

  • 400mm lens → about 3.6mm image diameter
  • 800mm lens → about 7.3mm
  • 1760mm lens → about 16mm
  • 2640mm lens → about 24mm

That means:

  • On a typical APS-C sensor (~16mm tall, or ~15mm on Canon), about 1760mm fills the frame vertically.
  • On full frame (24mm tall), about 2640mm fills the frame vertically.

So sensor crop does not change the Moon’s image size on the sensor for a given focal length; it only changes how much of the sensor area is captured, making the Moon appear larger relative to the frame.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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