What it frames

The OM System OM-5 with a 50mm lens (no lens chosen; depth of field at f/2.8), over a 1.75 m person in front of a wall with a window. Everything is drawn to scale: the solid frame is what the camera takes in, the dashed ones are 24, 50 and 135mm on full frame from the same spot. Its Micro Four Thirds sensor (17.3 x 13 mm) has a crop factor of 2, so the dashed frames are marked with the focal length that gives the same view on it.

50mm on the OM System OM-5 frames 52 cm × 39 cm at 1.5 m: like 100mm on full frame, 20° across.

24mm eq. (12mm)50mm eq. (25mm)135mm eq. (68mm)50mm · like 100mm on full frame52 cm × 39 cm at 1.5 m
The subject is 1.5 m away; things behind it are drawn smaller, as the camera sees them.
Inside the frame: the picture you would get.

The numbers

  • Frame at 1.5 m52 cm × 39 cm
  • Full-frame equivalent100mm
  • Angle of view20° × 15°, 24° diagonal
  • Depth of field at f/2.81.47 m to 1.54 m (7 cm)
  • Depth of field at f/81.41 m to 1.61 m (20 cm)
  • Hyperfocal at f/2.861.9 m
  • Hyperfocal at f/821.7 m
  • Circle of confusion0.014 mm
f/2.81.47 m to 1.54 m (7 cm)f/81.41 m to 1.61 m (20 cm)camerasubject, 1.5 m3 m
Depth of field: what is acceptably sharp, wide open and at f/8, focused on the subject.

How it is worked out

The frame at a distance is distance × sensor size ÷ focal length, across and up; the angle of view is 2 × atan(sensor size ÷ (2 × focal length)). Depth of field uses the thin-lens formulas: the hyperfocal distance H = f² ÷ (N × c) + f, the near limit s(H − f) ÷ (H + s − 2f) and the far limit s(H − f) ÷ (H − s), sharp to infinity from H on, with a circle of confusion c of the sensor diagonal ÷ 1500 and, on a zoom whose aperture changes, the maximum aperture taken linearly between its ends. These are for a rectilinear lens; a fisheye takes in more. Ask for this page with Accept: application/json for the numbers alone.