Field of View Calculator
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Horizontal angle of view from focal length and sensor width.
Lens & sensor
Horizontal field of view
39.6°
50mm on a 36mm-wide sensor
- Sensor width used
- 36 mm
Related calculators
Field of view (angle of view)
Field of view (or angle of view) is how wide a scene a lens captures, expressed in degrees. It depends on both focal length and sensor size: FOV = 2 × arctan(sensor width ÷ (2 × focal length)). Shorter focal lengths and larger sensors both produce a wider field of view.
This is why the same focal length looks different on different cameras — a 50mm lens frames much more of a scene on a full-frame sensor (36mm wide) than on a smaller APS-C or Micro Four Thirds sensor, because the smaller sensor only captures the center portion of the lens's projected image circle.
Example: a 50mm lens on a full-frame sensor (36mm wide) has a horizontal field of view of about 39.6°. The same lens on an APS-C sensor (23.6mm wide) narrows to roughly 26.6°, similar to what a longer lens would show on full frame.
Common questions
Is this the horizontal or diagonal field of view?
This calculator reports the horizontal field of view, using the sensor's width. Diagonal field of view (using the sensor's diagonal measurement) is typically larger for the same lens.
Why do camera makers list different sensor widths for the same format name?
Sensor dimensions vary slightly between manufacturers even within the same nominal format (e.g. APS-C). This calculator uses standard reference widths — check your camera's specifications for an exact figure.