Boneyard Tools

Field of View Calculator

Enter your focal length and sensor size to get the horizontal, vertical and diagonal angle of view, plus how wide and tall a scene a lens captures at a distance.

How to use the field of view calculator

  1. Enter the lens focal length in millimetres.
  2. Set the sensor width and height, or keep the full-frame defaults.
  3. Add a subject distance to see the scene width and height covered.

Examples

50mm on full frame, subject at 3 m

focal = 50 mm, sensor 36 x 24 mm, distance = 3 m
39.6 x 27.0 deg, covers 2.16 x 1.44 m

24mm wide angle

focal = 24 mm, full frame, distance = 5 m
73.7 deg horizontal, covers 7.5 m wide

Frequently asked questions

What is angle of view?

Angle of view is how wide a scene a lens takes in, measured as an angle. It is computed as 2 times the arctangent of the sensor dimension over twice the focal length.

What is the difference between horizontal, vertical and diagonal angle?

Each uses a different sensor dimension: the width gives the horizontal angle, the height the vertical, and the diagonal gives the widest, most commonly quoted figure.

How is subject coverage calculated?

Coverage width equals the subject distance times the sensor width divided by the focal length. The same formula with sensor height gives the coverage height.

Does sensor size affect field of view?

Yes. A smaller sensor captures a narrower angle for the same focal length, which is why crop sensors appear to zoom in compared with full frame.

Why is my real lens slightly different?

This uses the rectilinear thin-lens model. Real lenses focus closer than infinity and have distortion, so very wide or macro setups can differ a little.

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