What’s the difference between lens vignetting and a pinhole-style dark edge effect?
Asked 1/23/2013
60 views
2 answers
0
I often hear people describe darkened edges as either lens vignetting or a pinhole effect. They can look similar, so what is the actual difference?
How do the causes differ, and if someone wanted one effect versus the other in post-processing, what would you change?
Can you tell from a finished photo whether the dark edges came from lens vignetting or from a pinhole camera/effect?
Also, how does vignetting usually change with aperture? In general, is lens vignetting strongest wide open and reduced as the lens is stopped down, and if so, why?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
8
Every lens, whether made of glass or a tiny hole in card, creates an image circle, which fades to black towards the edges. When you close down the aperture in lens based cameras, the soft edge of the image circle hardens, matching the increased depth of field (it's basically an out-of-focus image of the physical edge of the lens). Hence, with wider apertures, vignetting is more common when you take photographs with lens-based cameras.
With a pinhole camera, the image circle is theoretically infinite in size, as light passes through the hole at all angles. However in practice, there is a physical thickness to the medium in which the hole is made, which results in light fall-off towards the edges as the effective size of the hole decreases with the greater angle of incidence.
The net result is that the type of vignetting you see from pinhole cameras is of a different character to that from lens based cameras. Vignetting is often added in post-production for aesthetic reasons (it's not always seen as a bad thing) and how it is applied will determine whether the image looks like it was taken with a pinhole camera.
Originally by user456. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user456
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Both describe edge darkening, but the causes differ.
Lens vignetting usually comes from the lens or accessories limiting off-axis light. At wide apertures, peripheral rays are more easily blocked by lens elements or a hood, so darkening is often stronger toward the corners. Stopping down tends to reduce this because the aperture limits rays more centrally, so fewer off-axis rays are clipped.
A pinhole camera can also show edge falloff, but for different reasons: light travels farther to the edges than to the center, and the thickness of the material around the pinhole can partially block steep-angle rays. So a “pinhole effect” is still a kind of vignetting, just from pinhole geometry rather than a conventional lens.
In appearance, lens vignetting is often subtler and corner-weighted, while pinhole falloff may look broader or more pronounced across the frame, though you can’t always tell for sure from the final image alone.
In post, asking for “vignetting” usually implies a normal lens-style corner darkening. Asking for a “pinhole effect” suggests stronger, more obvious edge darkening with a more primitive/optical look.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI13y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
What do photographers mean by soft light vs. hard light, and how do you control it?
What is moiré, what causes it, and how can you reduce it?
Can you see an image on a 4x5 ground glass when composing with a pinhole?
What does “flat light” mean, and how can you avoid or use it creatively?
How can I reduce cat’s-eye bokeh and keep blur circles round?