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Re: [OM] Mind Bender (intermediate focal length?)

Subject: Re: [OM] Mind Bender (intermediate focal length?)
From: "John A. Lind" <jlind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 13:06:37 -0500
At 11:40 11/26/02, Ag Schnozz wrote:
And you thought that this was an easy answer.

So far we've got four answers:

131-134mm
135mm
141.42mm
150mm

Is SQR(100*200) actually correct?  Maybe, maybe not.  The SQR of
the two focal lengths does not assume a starting magnification
or angle-of-view.

My Bad on my original posting of 150mm. I therefore retract it. For rectilinear lenses, Angle of View is directly proportional to the arctangent of the ratio of film dimension to focal length. Now that I've spewed the basic relationship out in text form that only a Mathematician or Physicist can decipher, here it is in equation form using ASCII characters:
  FOV = 2 * arctan( 0.5 * X / f )
    FOV = Field of View
    X = film dimension (can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal)
    f = lens focal length

To find a focal length for a specific field of view, rearrange this equation and the focal length for a particular film dimension and FOV becomes:
  f = 0.5 * X / [2 * tan( FOV / 2)]

Thus, for field of view, approximately 135mm is half-way between 100mm and 200mm.

Now, onward to FOV and magnification. Yes, FOV and magnification differ. Magnification is the ratio of image size to object size. It is dependent only on focal length and object distance from the front lens node. It is independent of film dimensions. FOV is dependent on film dimensions and focal length. It is nearly independent of object distance from the front lens node. However, FOV does decrease slightly as object distance is reduced if lens focusing is achieved by moving it farther from the film plane. It's most noticeable at macro distances with high magnification. Why? As the lens is moved farther from the film plane, the diameter of its image circle at the film plane increases. Not very noticeable at non-macro magnifications (less than 1:4) as the increase is very slight. More noticeable at macro distances (greater than 1:4) as the increase in image circle diameter starts to become significant.

-- John

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