Camera Field of View Calculator
Find the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal angle of view for any focal length and camera sensor — plus an inverse focal-length solver, scene-coverage calculator, crop-factor equivalents, a two-setup comparator, a field-of-view visualizer, and full reference tables. Everything runs 100% in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
1 · Field of View Calculator
Top-down view
Rectilinear model: FOV = 2·arctan(d / 2f). Accurate for normal and telephoto lenses; treat ultra-wide results above ~100° and fisheye lenses as approximate (see FAQ 7).
2 · Focal-Length Finder (inverse solver)
You know the angle you want — the solver finds the focal length that delivers it on your sensor.
Example: a 90° horizontal field of view on full frame needs an 18.0 mm lens; 90° diagonal needs 21.6 mm.
3 · Scene Coverage at Distance
How wide and tall is the framed scene at your working distance?
Example: a 50 mm lens on full frame at 10 m covers 7.20 m wide × 4.80 m tall.
4 · Crop-Factor & Equivalent Focal Length
Translate focal length between sensor formats — what your lens "feels like" on another body.
Example: 50 mm on Canon APS-C (1.61× crop) frames like a 80.7 mm lens on full frame.
5 · Compare Two Lens + Body Setups
Setup A
Setup B
| Metric | Setup A | Setup B | Difference |
|---|
Settling the classic debate: does a 24 mm on full frame frame wider than a 35 mm on APS-C? Put both setups here and see the degrees side by side.
6 · Field-of-View Visualizer
7 · Reference Tables
Diagonal field of view by focal length and sensor format
| Focal length |
|---|
Sensor dimensions reference
| Format | Width (mm) | Height (mm) | Diagonal (mm) | Crop factor |
|---|
Table values are computed live by the same engine as the calculator (FOV = 2·arctan(d/2f)). Smartphone dimensions are approximate — check your model's spec sheet for exact numbers.
How field of view works
Field of view (FOV) — also called angle of view — is the angular extent of the scene your camera records, measured in degrees. It is set by exactly two things: the lens's focal length and the sensor's physical dimensions. A shorter focal length (or a larger sensor) spreads the same scene across a wider angle.
For rectilinear lenses — the overwhelming majority of photo and video lenses — the relationship is pure geometry:
FOV = 2 · arctan( sensor dimension / (2 · focal length) )
Plug in the sensor width for horizontal FOV, the height for vertical FOV, and the diagonal for diagonal FOV. Worked example: a 50 mm lens on a full-frame sensor (36 × 24 mm) gives a horizontal FOV of 2·arctan(36/100) = 39.6°, vertical 2·arctan(24/100) = 27.0°, and diagonal 2·arctan(43.27/100) = 46.8°.
Rectilinear vs fisheye: the one caveat that matters
The formula above assumes a rectilinear projection — straight lines in the world stay straight in the photo. Fisheye lenses deliberately break this rule (using equidistant, equisolid-angle, or stereographic projections) to squeeze up to 180°+ into the frame, so their published FOV will not match this calculator. The same caution applies, mildly, to extreme ultra-wide rectilinear lenses wider than ~100° diagonal: real designs carry a few percent of distortion that shifts the true FOV by a degree or two. For everything from 14 mm to 600 mm rectilinear glass, the calculator is exact to the displayed precision.
Which FOV number should you use?
Diagonal is the headline number manufacturers and reviewers quote (a "50 mm normal lens" ≈ 46.8° diagonal on full frame). Horizontal is what matters for panoramas, video aspect ratios, and stitching. Vertical matters for portraits and architecture. Because the three share the sensor's aspect ratio, converting between them is just a change of the dimension you plug into the formula.
Frequently asked questions
What is field of view in photography?
Field of view (FOV) is the angular size of the scene your camera captures, measured in degrees. It is determined by two things only: the focal length of the lens and the physical dimensions of the sensor. For example, a 50 mm lens on a full-frame camera (36 x 24 mm sensor) captures a horizontal field of view of 39.6 degrees, vertical 27.0 degrees, and diagonal 46.8 degrees. A shorter focal length or a larger sensor widens the angle; a longer focal length or a smaller sensor narrows it.
How do I calculate the field of view of a camera?
Use the rectilinear formula FOV = 2 x arctan(sensor dimension / (2 x focal length)). Insert the sensor width for the horizontal FOV, the sensor height for the vertical FOV, and the sensor diagonal for the diagonal FOV. Example: for a 50 mm lens on full frame, horizontal FOV = 2 x arctan(36 / 100) = 39.6 degrees. The FOV Calculator tab on this page does all three computations instantly, including custom sensor sizes.
What is the difference between horizontal, vertical and diagonal field of view?
All three describe the same cone of view but measured across different sensor dimensions: horizontal uses the sensor width, vertical uses the sensor height, and diagonal uses the sensor diagonal. Diagonal is the headline number in lens reviews (a 50 mm normal lens is about 46.8 degrees diagonal on full frame). Horizontal matters most for panoramas and video framing, vertical for portraits and architecture. On a full-frame camera with a 50 mm lens the three values are 39.6, 27.0 and 46.8 degrees.
How does sensor size (crop factor) change field of view?
A smaller sensor crops the center of the image circle, which narrows the field of view exactly as if you had used a longer lens. The crop factor is the ratio of the full-frame diagonal (43.27 mm) to your sensor diagonal. Canon APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm) has a 1.61x crop, so a 50 mm lens gives 25.1 degrees horizontal and 30.0 degrees diagonal on Canon APS-C, versus 39.6 and 46.8 degrees on full frame. The Crop-Factor Equivalents tab converts any focal length between formats.
What focal length gives a 90 degree field of view on full frame?
It depends on which axis you mean. Solve the FOV formula backwards: focal length = sensor dimension / (2 x tan(FOV/2)). For 90 degrees horizontal on full frame (36 mm width) you need 18.0 mm; for 90 degrees diagonal (43.27 mm diagonal) you need 21.6 mm. The Focal-Length Finder tab on this page solves this for any target angle, axis and sensor.
Which lens focal length matches the field of view of the human eye?
Human central vision is often compared to a 43-55 mm lens on full frame, which is why 50 mm lenses are called normal: a 50 mm lens gives a 46.8 degree diagonal field of view on full frame, close to the roughly 50-55 degree cone of sharp human attention. Wider lenses (24 mm = 84.1 degrees diagonal) feel expansive; telephotos (200 mm = 12.3 degrees) feel compressed.
Does the field of view formula work for fisheye lenses?
No. The formula FOV = 2 x arctan(d / 2f) assumes a rectilinear projection, where straight lines stay straight. Fisheye lenses use different projections (equidistant, equisolid-angle or stereographic) to reach 180 degrees and beyond, so their real field of view does not follow this math. The same caution applies mildly to extreme ultra-wide rectilinear lenses past about 100 degrees diagonal, where a few percent of distortion can shift the true angle by a degree or two.
How wide a scene will my lens cover at a given distance?
Multiply: scene width = 2 x distance x tan(horizontal FOV / 2). With a 50 mm lens on full frame (39.6 degrees horizontal), at 10 meters the framed width is 2 x 10 x tan(19.8 degrees) = 7.20 meters, and the height is 4.80 meters. The Scene Coverage tab on this page computes width, height and diagonal coverage for any sensor, focal length and working distance.
What does 35mm equivalent focal length mean?
It is the focal length that would give the same field of view on a full-frame (35 mm) camera. Multiply the real focal length by the crop factor: a 50 mm lens on Canon APS-C (1.61x crop) behaves like an 80.7 mm lens on full frame. Phone makers use the same idea: a phone 24 mm equivalent lens frames like a 24 mm lens on full frame even though the real lens is only a few millimeters long.
Why does the same 24 mm lens frame differently on different cameras?
Field of view depends on sensor dimensions, not just focal length. A 24 mm lens on full frame gives an 84.1 degree diagonal field of view, but on Canon APS-C the smaller 22.3 x 14.9 mm sensor narrows it to 58.4 degrees diagonal. Compare any two body-plus-lens combinations side by side in the Compare 2 Setups tab.
Is angle of view the same as field of view?
In photography the two terms are used interchangeably: both mean the angular extent of the captured scene in degrees. Strictly, some textbooks reserve field of view for the linear width of the scene at a given distance (in meters or feet) and angle of view for the degrees, but in practice, and on this page, they refer to the same angles: horizontal, vertical and diagonal.
How do I choose a lens for a target field of view, for example 60 degrees diagonal?
Invert the formula: focal length = sensor diagonal / (2 x tan(30 degrees)). On full frame that is 43.27 / (2 x 0.5774) = 37.5 mm, so the nearest common prime is 35 mm. The Focal-Length Finder tab performs this inverse solve for any angle and also suggests the closest standard prime lenses.
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