Will a 6mm lens capture more detail than cropping a 4mm image to the same field of view?
Asked 10/30/2015
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I'm choosing between 4mm and 6mm fixed lenses on a 3MP IP camera. The camera can save snapshots at either its full 3MP resolution or reduced to 1920×1080. The 4mm lens gives a wider field of view (about 75°), while the 6mm lens gives a narrower field of view (about 50°).
If I compare the 6mm image to a crop from the 4mm image that shows the same 50° field of view, will the 6mm image contain more detail? Does the answer change if I save at full 3MP instead of reducing to 1920×1080?
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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If your resolution is the same (I think you typed that wrong?) and the lenses are otherwise equal, cropping away pixels will take away sharpness.
You will have more detail with the 6mm lens, than you would have by cropping the 4mm lens to show only that 50 degree area.
Originally by user45547. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user45547
10y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. If both images are saved at the same resolution and the lenses are otherwise comparable, the 6mm lens will show more detail on the subject than cropping the 4mm image down to the same narrower view.
Why: the 4mm lens spreads the available pixels over a wider scene. To match the 6mm framing, you would need to crop away part of the 4mm image, which leaves fewer pixels on the area you care about. Fewer pixels means less detail.
So a native 6mm view at 1920×1080 will retain more detail than taking a 4mm 1920×1080 image and cropping it to the same field of view.
The same logic still applies at full 3MP: using the longer lens directly gives more detail on that narrower area than using the wider lens and cropping afterward.
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