What does “1.6× the focal length” mean on a Canon 550D?
Asked 5/15/2011
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The Canon 550D specs say the lens focal length is “equivalent to 1.6× the focal length of the lens,” which is confusing. Does the camera actually change a lens’s focal length, or is this referring to crop factor and field of view compared with a full-frame/35mm camera?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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This is just their ultra confusing way of dealing with a crop factor field of view. It just means that a lens mounted on the 550D will have a field of view equivalent to 1.6 times narrower than the field of view of the same lens on a full frame.
Originally by user1917. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1917
15y ago
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It does not change the lens’s actual focal length. A lens’s focal length is a physical property of the lens and stays the same.
What Canon means is crop factor: the 550D’s APS-C sensor is smaller than full-frame/35mm, so it captures a narrower field of view from the same lens. The result is a view similar to using a lens 1.6× longer on a full-frame camera.
Examples:
- 50mm on a 550D gives a field of view similar to an 80mm lens on full frame.
- 300mm on a 550D gives a field of view similar to a 480mm lens on full frame.
So “1.6× equivalent” is really about angle/field of view, not the lens becoming a different focal length. The wording in the spec is confusing; a clearer way to say it is that Canon APS-C cameras have a 1.6× crop factor relative to full frame.
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