Angle of View, Explained: Calculator, Charts, and Why Diagonal Matters

This calculator gives you the angles of view of lenses of a particular focal length when used on digital cameras.

Camera lens angle of view calculator

The practical angle of view of a lens varies based on the camera’s sensor size, so I’ve included some of the most common sensor sizes.

In some cases, results might vary slightly from a lens manufacturer’s spec sheets. I explain why this can happen below.

The formula behind this calculator is straightforward trigonometry: angle of view = 2 × arctan(sensor dimension ÷ (2 × focal length)). Plug in the width, height, or diagonal measurement of the sensor and you get the horizontal, vertical, or diagonal angle of view, respectively. It’s the same formula regardless of which of the three you’re solving for; only the sensor dimension you use changes.

When is this useful?

Knowing the angle of view gives you a baseline reference for how wide a perspective you can fit in the frame. In a practical sense, I find it useful for choosing which lens is right for the job.

A larger angle of view corresponds to a wider lens, meaning you can fit more perspective within the frame. Conversely, a smaller angle of view gives you a narrow perspective, as you might get with a telephoto lens.

An easy example is when shooting architecture or landscapes. For those, you often might want to be able to fit quite a wide perspective, or large angle of view, in the frame.

It’s also a fixed reference point if you’re using the same or similar focal lengths but on different-sized sensors. For instance, a 20mm lens will give you a wider angle of view on a full-frame camera than on a Micro Four Thirds camera.

By having a reference point you can compare lenses in an apples-to-apples kind of way. That can be very handy when choosing the right lens for the job.

Why the diagonal angle of view matters for camera lenses

When you’re taking photos, the angles of view horizontally or laterally across the frame or vertically up and down the frame are probably the ones you’re most focused on. But it’s actually the diagonal measurement that comes up more often.

When you see that a lens has so-and-so degrees angle of view, it’s actually telling you it’s from one corner to the diagonally opposite corner. It’s not telling you the angle of view from side to side.

That’s because it’s the spec that lens manufacturers include in their spec sheets. So when you see that a lens has so-and-so degrees angle of view, it’s actually telling you it’s from one corner to the diagonally opposite corner. It’s not telling you the angle of view from side to side. In that respect, it’s a bit like the size spec that TV manufacturers use (i.e., a 55-inch TV is 55 inches from one corner to the diagonal corner, not from one side to the other side).

Camera lens angle of view charts

These charts offer an alternative way of visualizing the calculated data above. It might be useful if you’re approaching it from the other direction and trying to find a lens that has a particular visual coverage that you’re after.

The data here is calculated. For more specific data that applies to a particular model of lens, check the manufacturer’s spec sheets for that lens. Sometimes there might be, say, a half degree of variation, but in general, these rounded numbers should get you very close. I’ve compared them with a number of lens spec sheets and found the data here to be quite accurate.

Full-frame digital / 35mm SLR

This is for full-frame digital cameras with a sensor that measures 36mm x 24mm, which is the convention for a full-frame sensor. It also applies to SLR cameras using 35mm film.

Lens Focal Length	Diagonally	Horizontally	Vertically
12 mm	122°	113°	90°
14 mm	114°	104°	81°
16 mm	107°	97°	74°
18 mm	100°	90°	67°
20 mm	94°	84°	62°
24 mm	84°	74°	53°
28 mm	75°	65°	46°
30 mm	72°	62°	44°
35 mm	63°	54°	38°
40 mm	57°	48°	33°
50 mm	47°	40°	27°
60 mm	40°	33°	23°
70 mm	34°	29°	19°
75 mm	32°	27°	18°
80 mm	30°	25°	17°
85 mm	29°	24°	16°
100 mm	24°	20°	14°
105 mm	23°	19°	13°
110 mm	22°	19°	12°
120 mm	20°	17°	11°
130 mm	19°	16°	11°
150 mm	16°	14°	9°
175 mm	14°	12°	8°
180 mm	14°	11°	8°
200 mm	12°	10°	7°
210 mm	12°	10°	7°
250 mm	10°	8°	5°
300 mm	8°	7°	5°
400 mm	6°	5°	3°
500 mm	5°	4°	3°
600 mm	4°	3°	2°
800 mm	3°	3°	2°
900 mm	3°	2°	2°
1000 mm	2°	2°	1°

APS-C (standard)

This is for cameras with a cropped APS-C sensor with standard APS-C dimensions and a crop multiplier of 1.5x.

That includes Nikon’s DX cameras (but it does not include Canon APS-C sensors; see the next table for those).

Lens Focal Length	Diagonally	Horizontally	Vertically
12 mm	99°	89°	66°
14 mm	90°	80°	58°
16 mm	83°	73°	52°
18 mm	76°	66°	47°
20 mm	70°	61°	43°
24 mm	61°	52°	36°
28 mm	53°	46°	31°
30 mm	50°	43°	29°
35 mm	44°	37°	25°
40 mm	39°	33°	22°
50 mm	32°	26°	18°
60 mm	26°	22°	15°
70 mm	23°	19°	13°
75 mm	21°	18°	12°
80 mm	20°	17°	11°
85 mm	19°	16°	10°
100 mm	16°	13°	9°
105 mm	15°	13°	8°
110 mm	15°	12°	8°
120 mm	13°	11°	7°
130 mm	12°	10°	7°
150 mm	11°	9°	6°
175 mm	9°	8°	5°
180 mm	9°	7°	5°
200 mm	8°	7°	4°
210 mm	8°	6°	4°
250 mm	6°	5°	4°
300 mm	5°	4°	3°
400 mm	4°	3°	2°
500 mm	3°	3°	2°
600 mm	3°	2°	1°
800 mm	2°	2°	1°
900 mm	2°	1°	1°
1000 mm	2°	1°	1°

APS-C (Canon)

The reason I’ve singled Canon out as a special case here is that Canon’s APS-C sensors are just a smidgeon smaller than most other APS-C sensors.

They have a crop multiplier of 1.6x.

Lens Focal Length	Diagonally	Horizontally	Vertically
12 mm	96°	86°	64°
14 mm	88°	77°	56°
16 mm	80°	70°	50°
18 mm	73°	64°	45°
20 mm	68°	58°	41°
24 mm	58°	50°	34°
28 mm	51°	43°	30°
30 mm	48°	41°	28°
35 mm	42°	35°	24°
40 mm	37°	31°	21°
50 mm	30°	25°	17°
60 mm	25°	21°	14°
70 mm	22°	18°	12°
75 mm	20°	17°	11°
80 mm	19°	16°	11°
85 mm	18°	15°	10°
100 mm	15°	13°	9°
105 mm	15°	12°	8°
110 mm	14°	12°	8°
120 mm	13°	11°	7°
130 mm	12°	10°	7°
150 mm	10°	9°	6°
175 mm	9°	7°	5°
180 mm	9°	7°	5°
200 mm	8°	6°	4°
210 mm	7°	6°	4°
250 mm	6°	5°	3°
300 mm	5°	4°	3°
400 mm	4°	3°	2°
500 mm	3°	3°	2°
600 mm	3°	2°	1°
800 mm	2°	2°	1°
900 mm	2°	1°	1°
1000 mm	2°	1°	1°

Micro Four Thirds

This is for Micro Four Thirds cameras that use a sensor with a crop multiplier of 2.0x.

OM System (formerly Olympus) and Panasonic Lumix are the most prominent manufacturers using this sensor format. In practice, there can be very slight variations in the dimensions of the sensors from model to model.

Lens Focal Length	Diagonally	Horizontally	Vertically
12 mm	84°	72°	57°
14 mm	75°	63°	50°
16 mm	68°	57°	44°
18 mm	62°	51°	40°
20 mm	57°	47°	36°
24 mm	49°	40°	30°
28 mm	42°	34°	26°
30 mm	40°	32°	24°
35 mm	34°	28°	21°
40 mm	30°	24°	18°
50 mm	24°	20°	15°
60 mm	20°	16°	12°
70 mm	18°	14°	11°
75 mm	16°	13°	10°
80 mm	15°	12°	9°
85 mm	15°	12°	9°
100 mm	12°	10°	7°
105 mm	12°	9°	7°
110 mm	11°	9°	7°
120 mm	10°	8°	6°
130 mm	10°	8°	6°
150 mm	8°	7°	5°
175 mm	7°	6°	4°
180 mm	7°	6°	4°
200 mm	6°	5°	4°
210 mm	6°	5°	4°
250 mm	5°	4°	3°
300 mm	4°	3°	2°
400 mm	3°	2°	2°
500 mm	2°	2°	1°
600 mm	2°	2°	1°
800 mm	2°	1°	1°
900 mm	1°	1°	1°
1000 mm	1°	1°	1°

Things worth knowing

• These are close approximates. And deliberately so. The results should be very close to the lab ratings of the camera manufacturers — within a half or one degree, for example — but there are a number of areas where you can find slight variations if you really want to be precise. And that is why I’m rounding the results to the nearest degree. More precision than that can become a distraction here because of the several possible areas of slight variation.
  • Lens designs vary widely, and there’s some wiggle room in assigning a focal length to a lens. It’s often more of a nominal focal length than a precise measure.
  • There might be some manufacturing tolerance in the optical elements. That can be especially true with cheaper lenses or lens adapters.
  • There can be slight variations in the sensor dimensions within the same sensor category.
    • For example, Canon APS-C sensors are a touch smaller than standard APS-C; they have a crop factor of 1.6 vs. the crop factor of 1.5 for standard APS-C (which is why I’ve given them their own selection in the calculator above).
  • And even within the same brand.
    • For example, both the Nikon D5300 and Nikon D3100 have APS-C cropped sensors (or DX, as Nikon calls them). But there are slight differences in the dimensions of their sensors. The sensor for the D5300 measures 23.5 x 15.6 mm, while the sensor for the D3100 measures 23.1 x 15.4 mm. Yes, that’s the tiniest difference. Both are APS-C sensors, and both are considered to have a crop factor of 1.5. But on an ultra-wide-angle lens, even a tiny difference like that can throw off the FOV calculation by a degree or more.
  • There can also be differences in camera specs between the physical size of the sensor and the area of the sensor that’s actively available for image generation.
• This tool is for rectilinear lenses. The optics work differently in fisheye lenses.

Does this angle-of-view calculator work for zoom lenses?

Yes, this angle-of-view calculator works for zoom and prime lenses. You can enter any single, specific focal length along the zoom range. For instance, for a 24-70mm zoom lens, you can enter 55mm to see the angle of view at that point in the zoom range.

Digital cameras vs film cameras

I’m focusing here on digital cameras because, well, that’s what most of this site’s readers tend to use.

The same general principles apply for film, but instead of using the size of the sensor you’d use the size of the exposed film plane.

For 35mm film, that’s going to be functionally the same as using the full-frame option in the calculator above. I haven’t added other film sizes, but I might try to put together a separate calculator for that.