Field of View Calculator
Use this field of view calculator to see how much of a scene a lens and camera will capture — the angle of view in degrees and the real width and height of the frame at your subject distance. Compare two lenses, or find the focal length that fits a subject exactly.
Enter a lens, a sensor and a distance to see the angle of view and exactly how much of the scene fits in the frame.
Compare two lenses — or the same lens on two cameras — and see the difference drawn to scale.
Know what you need to fit in and how far back you can stand? Find the focal length that fills the frame.
How to Use the Field of View Calculator
What will I see?
- Choose your sensor: Pick a format, or enter custom dimensions for anything else
- Enter the focal length of your lens (the real focal length, not an equivalent)
- Enter the distance to your subject
- Read the results: Angles of view, the size of the frame at that distance, crop factor and full-frame equivalent, with a scale drawing
Compare lenses
- Set up lens A and lens B: Each has its own sensor and focal length, so you can compare two lenses or two cameras
- Enter a shared distance and see both frames side by side, overlaid to scale
What lens do I need?
- Choose your sensor and whether the subject should fill the frame's width or height
- Enter the subject's size and your distance in the same unit
- Read the focal length that fits it exactly, and the nearest common lens
Every result can be shared as a link or printed on its own.
How to Calculate Field of View
Two numbers decide what a camera sees: the focal length of the lens and the size of the sensor. Together they fix the angle of view. Add the distance to your subject and that angle becomes a real field of view — the width and height of the scene in the frame.
The angle of view formula
Angle of view = 2 × arctan( d / (2 × f) )
Field of view = d × (u − f) / f
d is the sensor dimension you're measuring across (width, height or diagonal), f the focal length and u the distance from the lens to the subject, all in the same units. The first formula gives the angle with the lens focused at infinity; the second gives the width covered at a finite distance.
Worked example: 35mm on APS-C at 5 m
A Nikon or Sony APS-C sensor is 23.5mm wide, with a crop factor of 1.53.
- Horizontal angle of view: 2 × arctan(23.5 / 70) = 37.1°
- Field of view at 5 m: 23.5 × (5000 − 35) / 35 = 3.33 m wide
- Full-frame equivalent: 35 × 1.53 ≈ 54mm
Angle of view chart
Angles of view for common focal lengths on full frame, APS-C and Micro Four Thirds, and how wide the full-frame view is 10 metres away.
| Focal length | Full frame, horizontal | Full frame, diagonal | APS-C, diagonal | Micro 4/3, diagonal | Full-frame width at 10 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14mm | 104.3° | 114.2° | 90.4° | 75.4° | 25.68 m |
| 16mm | 96.7° | 107° | 82.8° | 68.1° | 22.46 m |
| 20mm | 84° | 94.5° | 70.4° | 56.8° | 17.96 m |
| 24mm | 73.7° | 84.1° | 60.9° | 48.5° | 14.96 m |
| 28mm | 65.5° | 75.4° | 53.5° | 42.3° | 12.82 m |
| 35mm | 54.4° | 63.4° | 43.9° | 34.4° | 10.25 m |
| 50mm | 39.6° | 46.8° | 31.5° | 24.4° | 7.16 m |
| 85mm | 23.9° | 28.6° | 18.8° | 14.5° | 4.2 m |
| 105mm | 19.5° | 23.3° | 15.3° | 11.8° | 3.39 m |
| 135mm | 15.2° | 18.2° | 11.9° | 9.2° | 2.63 m |
| 200mm | 10.3° | 12.3° | 8.1° | 6.2° | 1.76 m |
| 300mm | 6.9° | 8.2° | 5.4° | 4.1° | 1.16 m |
| 400mm | 5.2° | 6.2° | 4° | 3.1° | 0.86 m |
| 600mm | 3.4° | 4.1° | 2.7° | 2.1° | 0.56 m |
Angle of view vs field of view
People often use the two terms interchangeably. Strictly, the angle of view is an angle and doesn't change with distance, while the field of view is the area covered at a particular distance. A 24mm lens on full frame always sees 73.7° across, but that angle covers about 15 metres of a scene 10 metres away and about 150 metres of one 100 metres away.
Understanding Field of View
Framing depends on two things only: the focal length and the size of the sensor. These ideas explain how they combine.
Angle of View
The angle a lens takes in, measured across the sensor's width, height or diagonal. It is set by the focal length and the sensor size, and doesn't change with distance.
Example: 24mm on full frame sees 73.7° across; 200mm sees just 10.3°.
Field of View at a Distance
The angle becomes a real width and height once you know how far away the subject is. Double the distance and the frame covers twice the width.
Useful for: knowing whether a group, a room or a building will fit before you get there.
Crop Factor
How much smaller a sensor's diagonal is than full frame's 43.3mm. APS-C is about 1.5× (1.6× for Canon), Micro Four Thirds 2×.
Multiply a focal length by the crop factor to find the full-frame lens that gives the same framing.
Equivalent Focal Length
A 35mm lens on APS-C frames like a 53mm lens on full frame. The lens hasn't changed: the smaller sensor simply records less of its image.
Note: equivalence covers framing only. Depth of field and background blur follow the real focal length and aperture.
Wide, Normal and Telephoto
A "normal" lens roughly matches the sensor diagonal — about 43mm on full frame — and gives a natural-looking view. Shorter is wide-angle; longer is telephoto.
- Wide (under 35mm FF): landscapes, interiors, context
- Normal (40–60mm FF): street, everyday, environmental portraits
- Telephoto (over 70mm FF): portraits, sport, wildlife
Perspective Comes From Distance
A telephoto doesn't "compress" a scene and a wide-angle doesn't stretch it. Perspective depends only on where you stand; focal length decides how much of that view you crop.
In practice: choose your position for the perspective you want, then choose the lens that frames it.
Field of View Calculator FAQs
What is the difference between field of view and angle of view?
Angle of view is the angle a lens takes in, in degrees, and does not depend on distance. Field of view is the actual width and height of the scene it covers at a particular distance. A 50mm lens on full frame always has a 39.6° horizontal angle of view; at 10 meters that covers a field about 7.2 meters wide.
Does a crop sensor make a lens longer?
No. The focal length is a property of the lens and does not change. A smaller sensor records a smaller part of the image the lens projects, so the framing matches what a longer lens would give on full frame. That is what the full-frame equivalent figure describes.
Why does my lens show slightly less than the calculator at close range?
Most lenses focus by moving elements or changing their effective focal length, and many internal-focus zooms get noticeably wider or narrower up close. The calculator uses the standard thin-lens model, which is accurate at normal distances and a close approximation for close-up work.
What is the field of view of a 50mm lens?
On a full-frame camera a 50mm lens has a horizontal angle of view of 39.6° (46.8° diagonally). At 10 metres that covers a scene about 7.2 metres wide and 4.8 metres high. On APS-C the same lens frames like a 75–80mm lens on full frame.
How does crop factor affect field of view?
A smaller sensor records a smaller part of the image a lens projects, so the field of view narrows by the crop factor. Multiply the focal length by the crop factor to find the full-frame lens that frames the same way: 35mm on a 1.5× APS-C camera frames like about 53mm on full frame.
Which angle do lens makers quote?
Usually the diagonal angle of view, measured across the corners of a full-frame sensor. It is the largest of the three figures, so compare like with like when reading specifications.
How do I find the lens I need for a group photo or a room?
Use the What lens do I need? tab. Enter how wide the group or room is, how far back you can stand, and your sensor, and it gives the focal length that fills the frame plus the nearest common lens.