Angle of view and field of view describe how much of a scene your camera sees. The angle of view is an angle – it depends only on the sensor size and focal length – while the field of view is the actual width and height of the area covered at a particular distance, so it grows the farther away the subject is.
A wide-angle lens (short focal length) takes in a broad sweep; a telephoto lens (long focal length) narrows the view and magnifies distant subjects. The same lens shows less on a smaller sensor: a 24 mm lens covers about 74° horizontally on full frame but only about 50° on a Canon APS-C body. Knowing the exact coverage helps you choose a lens for a room, plan where to stand at a wedding, size a backdrop, or set up security, drone and trail cameras.
Choose your sensor (including phone sensors), switch between landscape and portrait orientation and enter the subject distance to see the covered area and a diagram of the horizontal view.
How to use the Camera Field of View Calculator
- Sensor size — Choose your camera’s sensor format – crop factors are relative to full frame.
- Sensor width
- Sensor height
- Lens focal length
- Distance to the subject
- Camera orientation
Everything is calculated in your browser, so results appear instantly and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How it works
The sensor width, height and diagonal are each divided by twice the focal length; the arctangent doubled gives the angles. Multiplying the tangent of each half-angle by twice the distance gives the size of the covered area. This assumes a rectilinear lens focused at a distance much larger than the focal length.
Worked example
A full-frame camera (36 × 24 mm) with a 35 mm lens photographs a group 10 m away.
Horizontal angle = 2 × arctan(36 ÷ 70) = 54.4°; vertical = 2 × arctan(24 ÷ 70) = 37.8°; diagonal = 2 × arctan(43.27 ÷ 70) = 63.4°. At 10 m the frame covers 10 × 36 ÷ 35 = 10.29 m by 10 × 24 ÷ 35 = 6.86 m – about 70.5 m².
Angles of view on full frame
| Focal length | Horizontal | Vertical | Diagonal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 mm | 104.3° | 81.2° | 114.2° |
| 24 mm | 73.7° | 53.1° | 84.1° |
| 35 mm | 54.4° | 37.8° | 63.4° |
| 50 mm | 39.6° | 27.0° | 46.8° |
| 85 mm | 23.9° | 16.1° | 28.6° |
| 200 mm | 10.3° | 6.9° | 12.3° |
Formula
Angle of view = 2 · arctan(sensor size ÷ (2 · f)) · Field of view at distance d = 2 · d · tan(angle ÷ 2) = d × sensor size ÷ f
Worked example
Inputs — Sensor size: Full frame (35 mm) – 36 × 24 mm (crop 1.00×); Lens focal length: 35 mm; Distance to the subject: 10 m; Camera orientation: Landscape (horizontal).
Results — Horizontal angle of view = 54.43 °; Vertical angle of view = 37.85 °; Diagonal angle of view = 63.44 °; Field of view – width covered = 10,285.7143; Field of view – height covered = 6,857.1429; Field of view – diagonal covered = 12,361.8901.
Key terms
- Angle of view
- The angle of the scene recorded by the sensor, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- Field of view
- The linear size of the scene covered at a given distance.
- Rectilinear lens
- A lens that keeps straight lines straight; almost all non-fisheye lenses.
- Crop factor
- Full-frame diagonal (43.27 mm) divided by the sensor diagonal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between angle of view and field of view?
The angle of view is an angle (for example 54°) fixed by the lens and sensor. The field of view is the size of the area covered at a distance – for example 10.3 m wide at 10 m.
What is the angle of view of a 50 mm lens?
On full frame it is about 39.6° horizontally, 27.0° vertically and 46.8° diagonally.
Which angle do lens makers quote?
Usually the diagonal angle of view, which is the largest of the three.
Does a crop sensor change the angle of view?
Yes. The lens is the same, but the smaller sensor records only the centre of the image, so the angle is smaller by roughly the crop factor.
How wide is a phone's main camera?
Most main cameras are about 24–26 mm full-frame equivalent, giving roughly 69–74° horizontally and 80–84° diagonally.
Why does my result differ slightly from the lens specification?
Lenses breathe (change angle) when focused close, and real sensor sizes differ by a few tenths of a millimetre between models.
Does this work for fisheye lenses?
No – fisheye lenses use a different projection. The formula here is for normal (rectilinear) lenses.