Focal length drawing. What is the focal length of a camera? Available in millimeters

Focal length, viewing angle, perspective

It is often mistakenly believed that focal length- this is the distance to the focusing object. This is, of course, not true. Focal length- one of the most important characteristics of the lens, which determines its viewing angle, that is, the sector of space that falls into the frame. The shorter the focal length, the larger the viewing angle of the lens.

Depending on the viewing angle, lenses are divided into wide-angle, normal and telephoto lenses.

Wide angle A lens is considered to have a viewing angle greater than the human eye. The focal length of wide-angle lenses is 35 millimeters or less.

The image obtained by such a lens has a rather pronounced perspective and background objects seem smaller than we are used to seeing them, but the viewing angle of such a lens allows you to shoot in tight spaces without any problems. Here are examples of photos taken with a 16mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

We can see how wide of a viewing angle this lens has, but it comes at the cost of significant perspective distortion - especially noticeable in the corners of the image. Here's another photo taken with a 16mm lens:

The same thing - the huge angle of view made it possible to fit a huge amphitheater into the frame. A pronounced perspective effect is also noticeable - small objects in the foreground seem huge, and large objects in the background seem unusually small.

Wide Angle Lenses are used in cases where one frame needs to cover a large space - mainly in landscape and interior photography. For a large angle of view you have to pay with a specific “aggressive” perspective - the lens distorts the proportions of objects in the foreground and background (see photo with the amphitheater), and also has a tendency to collapse vertical lines (see photo indoors).

Normal A lens whose angle of view is close to that of the human eye is considered. Another, more correct definition of a normal lens is a lens that has a focal length equal to the diagonal of the frame (in the case of a film frame, 43 mm). The focal length of normal lenses may vary slightly and ranges from 40 to 50 mm. Compared to a wide-angle lens, the angle of view of a normal lens may seem small, but the lens has a calmer perspective. Photos taken with such a lens are perceived most naturally, sometimes called the “presence effect.” Here is an example photo taken with a 50mm lens.

Please note that the perspective of a normal lens is much more familiar and “calmer” than that of a wide-angle lens. The ratio of the sizes of objects in the foreground and background is familiar to the eye - this is the main advantage of a normal lens. The other side of the coin is that in order to photograph a sufficiently large object, you need to move quite far away from it. This is not very convenient and not always possible. Normal lens in the best possible way Suitable for shooting in open spaces, so-called “street photography”. For landscape and indoor photography, this lens may not have enough field of view to fit everything you need into the frame.

Telephoto lenses have a focal length of 60 mm or more. It’s easy to guess that the longer the focal length, the stronger the lens “zooms in”. Telephoto lenses with focal lengths up to 135 mm are often called "portrait lenses". They provide a relatively small zoom effect, so they won’t be able to take close-up shots of distant objects, but the perspective of these lenses is optimal for portrait photography—distortion of facial proportions is minimal. Here are two examples: the first portrait was taken with a wide angle (28 mm):

The photograph shows that the proportions of the face are seriously distorted - it looks excessively convex and even the eyes seem to be looking in different directions. Conclusion - if you shoot a portrait with a wide angle, it will look more like a cartoon!

Another example is a photograph taken with a focal length of 80mm:

Now the proportions are all right! Plus, the increased focal length made it possible to “stretch” and blur the background, now it does not distract us from the main objects.

When shooting even closer-up portraits, when the face occupies most of the frame, lenses with an even larger focal length are used - up to 135 mm. A longer focal length is rarely used in a classic portrait, since due to the weak perspective the face may look too flat. On the other hand, it can smooth out some imperfections, such as a too long nose.

Long focal length lenses are used when it is not possible to get close to the subject.

Please note that the photograph does not convey the depth of the landscape well - the objects in the foreground are approximately the same size as those in the background. Because of this, the landscape does not look natural. Telephoto lenses are also used when photographing shy birds and animals, for shooting sports photo reports, when you have to shoot from the stands, and the distance to the subject can be several tens of meters.

So we decided which scenes are best to shoot at which focal lengths. For simplicity, we summarize this information in a small table.

Of course, the ranges of focal lengths are approximate - it is impossible to provide for all genres and all the author's ideas in a small tablet! In real situations, the optimal focal length may differ significantly from what is given in the table.

How to find out the focal length of a lens?

To find out the focal length of a lens, just read its markings. Let's take a common Canon lens - the “whale” one (in the picture on the left)...

The arrow in the figure marks the inscription indicating the range of focal lengths - from 18 to 55 millimeters. Similar inscriptions are on all lenses without exception. If there is only one number, then the lens has a fixed focal length and does not have zoom.

Another important point that cannot be ignored is the so-called equivalent focal length. Those focal lengths discussed in the section on viewing angle and perspective apply to film cameras, as well as digital ones, which have a matrix the size of a film frame - 36 * 24 mm. Such matrices are called “full frame” or FF (from English Full Frame - full frame). They are “inserted” mainly into professional cameras. In most amateur and semi-professional devices, the matrix size is 1.5-1.6 times smaller than the film frame. Matrices of this size are called APS-C (Advanced Photo System - Classic). What happens if, say, a lens with a focal length of 50 mm is attached, for example, to a Canon EOS 650D with an APS-C matrix? How will the picture differ from the full-frame Canon EOS 5D Mark II? Let's look at the pictures...

If the EOS 5D matrix receives the entire image formed by the lens, then only the central part of the image falls on the amateur 650D matrix; it is marked with a yellow dotted frame.

As a result, photographs taken by different devices with the same lens will differ slightly from each other.

It is easy to notice that on an APS-C matrix, a 50 mm lens seems to give a smaller viewing angle. Therefore, to get the same viewing angle as a full frame, you need to reduce the focal length. How much should it be reduced to get the same picture as the full frame? Right! The same amount as the APS-C matrix is ​​smaller than the FF matrix, that is, 1.6 times! By the way, the coefficient 1.6 is called crop factor. The higher the crop factor, the smaller the physical size of the matrix.

50mm: 1.6 = 31.25 mm

Thus, we calculated what focal length the lens should have in order to provide the same viewing angle on an APS-C matrix as that of a 50 mm lens at full frame - approximately 31 mm. In such cases they say: a lens with a real focal length of 31 mm on a 1.6 crop has an equivalent focal length of 50 mm.

Now let’s make an addition to the table with focal lengths that was drawn above...

Now let’s look at the distance scale of the kit lens and use imaginary multi-colored markers to mark the areas of application on it, something like this:

Naturally, the picture is approximate, but it clearly helps to determine what types of shooting a kit lens is suitable for. The 18-55 mm range was not chosen lightly - it allows you to perform the most popular types of amateur photography. Of course, the possibilities of a kit lens are not limitless. They are not recommended to take close-up portraits (the closest shot, the face in the entire frame); for this, a lens with a focal length of about 85 mm is desirable (so that the equivalent focal length is 135 mm). If you try to shoot such portraits at a focal length of 55 mm, you will have to do it from too close a distance, which will make the perspective distortions of the facial proportions noticeable (of course, not as much as at a wide angle, but it will still be noticeable). Also, it is impossible to shoot distant objects with a kit lens due to the lack of focal length.

People often ask me: if you buy a “superzoom” (for example, 18-200 mm), can it take beautiful portraits? Agree, it’s a tempting idea - to buy one lens for all occasions! Alas, everything is not so simple. On the one hand, the range of focal lengths of a “superzoom” really makes it universal, but on the other hand, due to its relatively small aperture ratio, it cannot always provide a shallow depth of field, which in most cases determines the beauty of a portrait. What depth of field is, why it is needed and how to control it will be discussed in the next chapter!

Nikon photography simulator with different focal lengths

See how the field of view of the lens changes with changing focal length and when used on a full frame sensor (FX) and on a 1.5 crop sensor (DX).

Questions for self-control

1. Determine the range of actual and equivalent focal lengths of your lens.
2. What types of shooting is your lens best suited for?
3. What types of shooting does your lens not support?

The focal length of a video surveillance camera lens is a video camera parameter that we take as the basis when calculating the video surveillance area. The viewing angle of the lens depends on its size and the physical size of the matrix. By performing simple geometric calculations, you can quite accurately determine the area that will fall within the frame of the CCTV camera.

To conduct video surveillance over a large area, cameras with a wide viewing angle are used, and when viewing “sandwiched” objects, such as a long corridor with a narrow one.

Parameters affecting viewing angle

As mentioned above, three parameters of a video camera are interdependent, these are:

1. Lens focal length;
2. Lens viewing angle;
3. The physical size of the video camera matrix.

The longer the focal length of the lens, the smaller the viewing angle. Consequently, it is possible to observe objects that are located at a relatively large distance from CCTV cameras. Conversely, the shorter the focal length, the larger the viewing angle. Accordingly, more objects fall into the camera frame.

The viewing angle also depends on the size of the sensitive element – ​​the matrix. The larger the matrix size, the smaller the camera's viewing angle and vice versa.

Calculating the focal length of a video camera lens

Calculating the focal length of a CCTV camera is necessary for the correct selection of a video camera. Of course, manufacturers indicate in the technical specifications the physical size of the matrix, focal length and sometimes viewing angle. But for a general understanding, let’s see what affects the choice of focal length:

1. At what distance is the object of observation;
2. Physical matrix size;
3. Object size.

So, given the given technical specifications cameras, you can calculate the focal length of the CCTV camera lens using the following formulas:

F= h*S/H or F= v*S/V,

where h is the size of the matrix along the horizon;

S – distance to the video surveillance object;

H – horizontal size of the object;

v – vertical matrix size;

V – vertical size of the object.

The dimensions of the sides of the CCTV camera matrix are shown in the table:

An example of calculating focal length and choosing a camera

It is necessary to monitor the entry and passage through the gates into the territory of the enterprise;

Surveillance task: detection of cars and people at the entrance to the territory of the enterprise;

The width of the passage and gate is 6 meters;

The distance from the camera to the passage is 7 meters;

Camera Proto AHD-1W-EH10F(?)IR, after the letter F the focal length should be indicated. We will calculate it using the above formula:

F=3.2*7/6=3.7 mm,

where 3.2 is the vertical size of the matrix, because The Proto AHD-1W-EH10F(?)IR camera has a 1/4” matrix installed. Since the lenses on the video camera are made with fixed focal lengths, we choose the nearest smaller one because if you select the nearest larger one, then part of the object will not fall into the camera frame.

Let's perform one more test of the camera's suitability. The control zone is 6 meters wide, the task is detection. When detecting a person, it is necessary that there be 20-30 pixels of camera resolution per meter of control. With simple calculations, it is clear that the camera is capable of not only detecting, but also recognizing a person on an object, not to mention cars. In fact, it is still necessary to calculate the vertical focal length, as well as the height and installation angle of the video camera, but we deliberately omit these calculations, because We do not set ourselves the task of a complete calculation; we wanted to show in this example only the methodology for calculating the focal length and choosing a camera based on this calculation.

To calculate the basic parameters of CCTV cameras, you can use a free calculator, with which you can not only obtain numerical values ​​of indicators, but also visually determine what a group of silhouettes of people in the frame will look like. You can download the calculator.

Situations often arise when it is not possible to clearly define the control zone of a video camera, or there is a need to change the size of this zone, but with limited frequency. It also happens that a person wants to more accurately determine the control zone on the spot. In these cases, a camera with a varifocal lens will help, on which you can change the focal length manually without any problems. If you need to quickly zoom in or out of an object, you can use a camera with a motorized lens. There are cameras that allow you not only to quickly change the focal length (zoom in, zoom out), but also change the video surveillance angle within 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. Such cameras are called Speed ​​doome, you can read about them in the article “Speed ​​dome cameras”

Readers, greetings. I’m in touch with you, Timur Mustaev. Let's solve the riddle! So, what important photography parameter is indicated on the camera itself? Hint: for fixed lenses it is constant, and for zooms it is variable. Of course it's the focal length! What it is and what it affects - you will learn about this and other important things below.

Each of them is designed for its own purposes: the first (portrait) often shoots people, the wide (this is shortened slang for photographers, wide-angle) - landscapes, the long-focus - reportages, etc. Still, what is the focal length of a lens?

Basic terminology

Let's turn to the technical side of the issue. It is my deep conviction that in order to take decent photographs, you need to have a good understanding of the means with which you shoot, that is, the camera.

I repeat, the mentioned physical property of photographic optics is one of its significant characteristics. Let's start the explanation with the fact that a light wave penetrates inside the glass. It is refracted through all lenses and collected at a certain point (on the film or matrix), which is called the focus.

The distance of the optical center to the plane of this photosensitive layer, where the image is already projected, is the focal length.

A corresponding scale may be marked on the lens barrel if it is assumed that F can be varied, but in other cases there is only one, constant value, for example, 14, 50, 85, etc. Units of measurement are millimeters.

The focal length of the lens directly determines the viewing angle (wide or narrow) and the ability to zoom in on an object, bringing it closer.

Therefore, it is not surprising that photographers are wondering: is it possible to somehow change an existing parameter without spending money on a new lens? The answer is yes. Using a special attachment located between the body of the device and the optics, you can either increase F, that is, make a long focus (telescopic attachments), or decrease it, turning it into a wide-angle.

Here it is worth introducing the concept of the focal length of the lens. This is the length connecting the center of the lens and its focus. If this distance is greater than zero, then the lens is considered converging, and less - diverging.

Camera attachments are created using this principle. Usually they have several lenses: to increase the focal length, the front lens must be positive (converging) and the rear negative (diffusing); To reduce F and, accordingly, widen the angle, the glass arrangement should be opposite.

As you can see, it’s easier to buy yourself a similar optical attachment, which is very convenient and cheap. But you shouldn’t expect great results from it, as from a full-fledged lens with the desired focal length. Just like a macro ring cannot replace a full-fledged macro lens.

Important Additional Information

I'll tell you a little secret. The specified value for focus will only be that of , that is, film or digital, equivalent to 35 mm film.

But then how to determine the focal length, the real distance for a given set of optics and camera? For non-full frame cameras - from a matrix - there will be a different focal length.

The formula, quite simple, can help calculate it: F in millimeters (each value of its range) is multiplied by a constant for a certain brand of camera. The constant will be the crop factor, equal to 1.6 for Canon and 1.5 for Nikon.

I will give an example for clarity. Let's say you have a Canon zoom and the numbers on the lens are 18-200, which means you have an excellent universal lens and great opportunities for various types of shooting. And what an angle for the frame! It goes from 100 degrees and tapers to 12.

Also, your camera will be able to “see” what is happening at the very top of a large tree! But now we are talking about something else. You can read more about this lens in my article.

In fact, the focal length does not correspond to 18 and 200, but is equal to 18*1.6=28.8 and 200*1.6=320. That is, the optical device remained wide-angle and long-focus, but with different indicators.

So we figured out what the focal length of a camera is. Its values ​​for a specific lens are indicated on the outside of the equipment, so the question “how to determine it?” in principle cannot arise.

Remember, F should never be confused with the actual distance between the photographer, measured in meters, and the subject (model), and a more complex term - .

Before finishing the article, I wanted to ask you one question. Do you want to take good photos with your DSLR? Do you want to not just set it to automatic mode, but actually control the entire shooting process? If you really want to grow and develop as a photographer, then a video course - or My first MIRROR, will definitely not leave you without attention. This is what will become your guiding star into the world of high-quality photographs.

My first MIRROR- for fans of CANON SLR cameras.

Digital SLR for a beginner 2.0- for fans of NIKON SLR cameras.

And also, take care of your camera, your lenses and keep them clean. For these purposes, I use pencil And with a cloth for cleaning, which I don’t take out of my backpack with photographic equipment. I bought these on Aliexpress and was quite pleased with the cleaning result.

Remember how you treat your equipment is how it treats you!

Goodbye readers! I will be glad if you come to my blog more often. Subscribe to updated articles, stay informed! Share with the article. If you have anything to add, or simply express your opinion about the article, write in the comments.

All the best to you, Timur Mustaev.

Good afternoon, friends! We are gradually getting closer to the key concepts in photography (we are talking about), without understanding which further progress in learning photography and conscious shooting in general is unthinkable, and this is what gives good, stable results. Let me give you a quote about following the rules in photography:

Failure to follow this rule results in garbage.
The ability to follow this rule gives a reliable craft level.
The ability to break this rule produces masterpieces.

So, I believe that beginners should strive to master basic techniques and develop basic shooting skills (confidently shoot in manual mode, understand how to compositionally frame a frame, what to emphasize in a frame, how to process pictures...). And a confident base and experience will definitely bear fruit in the form of more interesting results, don’t even doubt it!)

Concept of lens focal length

Focal length is one of the most important characteristics lens. In short and simply, this parameter determines how close the image we can get. When choosing a lens, you should start there because your shooting style requires certain focal lengths.

I assume that you already have, which we discussed earlier. Pay attention to the following diagram of a SLR camera:

Here the red dotted line indicates the optical axis of the lens, in fact its center. Here we look at the camera with a cutaway lens, top view. If you turn the lens with the front lens towards you, mark (mentally, of course!) the center of the circle, then draw a perpendicular down from it and get the optical axis. The object being photographed is marked in green on the left. The red lines represent the passage of light through the lens.

Light entering the camera and going back in the opposite direction are refracted differently. The points of refraction are called the principal planes (front and back). From the point of view of photography, it is the rear plane that is important, as it is responsible for the refraction of light going towards the matrix. It is also considered its optical center.

Hold your attention on this diagram for a short time and take a closer look. There is nothing complicated about it, you just need to get into it once.

Focal length is distance from the optical center of the lens to the focal plane (matrix). See schematic drawing above.

In lenses with a normal focal length (approximately equal to the diagonal of the matrix), the rear plane is located near the aperture. In telephoto lenses, due to complex optical circuits, it can shift outside the lens towards the object being photographed, in wide-angle ones - towards the matrix. This is done for the compactness of telephoto lenses and the possibility of creating wide-angle ones as a class (since they are difficult to position so close to the matrix).

Lens developers know the exact location of the optical center. And the point that corresponds to the focal plane, i.e. matrix, can be identified by the designation of a circle with a straight line intersecting it on the camera body to the right of the wheel that switches shooting modes (on Nikon).

Naming. In the speech of photographers you can hear the following names:

• focal length;
• focal;
• FR (abbreviation);
• focal length (English equivalent);
• FL (abbreviation for English equivalent).

How is focal length measured?

Dimensions in millimeters, mm. It's better to look at an example. Let's say we have a popular Nikon 35 mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Nikkor lens. The marking indicates 35 mm, i.e. its focal length is constant and is 35 millimeters. Don’t pay attention to the other characteristics for now, we’ll look at them when we talk about lenses.

Another example is the standard Nikon 18-55 mm f 3.5-5.6 GII VR II AF-S DX Nikkor kit lens. 18-55 mm is indicated here, the focal length is variable. That is, by turning the zoom ring on the lens, you can change it from 18 to 55 mm. Looking ahead, such lenses are called varifocal lenses or zoom lenses.

Popular misconception. Sometimes you hear that the focal length depends on something. This is wrong. As described above, focal length is a physical characteristic of the lens, which is intended by the designers. It does not change under any circumstances.

What does focal length affect?

Attention! We are approaching a critically important part of our conversation. If you understand what is discussed below, you will give yourself an excellent foundation for understanding composition, which is extremely important. If not... You can't help but understand! If anything happens, I am always at your service in the comments.

Parameters affected by focal length:

1. Viewing angle;
2. Image scale;
3. Degree of blur and depth of field;
4. Perspective (indirectly).

Let's look at everything in detail. Small conventions - in the article about matrices we looked at. There we talked about the fact that the larger the matrix, the wider the viewing angle. Here we will accept a certain matrix size and will consider all changes in parameters based on the fact that the matrix does not change. In order to avoid confusion in different focal lengths depending on the size of the matrix, an EFR (effective focal length) was adopted, which recalculates the focal length in the equivalent of a full-frame camera. We will talk about this in the next article about the crop factor. All the following examples are from a crop camera, i.e. if the same shots were taken with a full-frame camera, the viewing angle would be wider.

Effect of focal length on viewing angle

As the focal length increases, the viewing angle decreases, and vice versa, the shorter the focal length, the wider the viewing angle. Look at the examples - taken from the same point at different focal lengths.

We can conclude that:

• The more surrounding space we want to capture in the frame, the wider-angle (with a shorter focal length) the lens should be.
• Conversely, if you need to shoot a relatively distant object, then it is better to prefer a telephoto lens (with a long focal length).

Effect of focal length on image scale

In fact, this is related to the first point. The fact is that with a larger focal length, the object being photographed will appear larger in the final image. They say that such a lens will give greater magnification or a larger image scale.

Example - we stand at one point, without moving, and photograph a person at a distance of 10 m with a wide-angle lens with an 18 mm AF. We get a full-length photograph of a person and a lot of space around the edges. By changing the lens to another one, for example, with an 85 mm FR, we will also get a full-length image of a person, but now there will be less empty space around the edges, and the person himself will be larger. As a result, we will get an image on a larger scale.

The effect of focal length on the degree of blur

It is quite possible that you have already heard about this and know that the longer the focal length, the more blurry the background will be. This is why portrait photographers love telephoto lenses (long focal lengths). Look at the example of a toy to see how the blur changes:

It is worth mentioning that as the focal length increases, the depth of field (DOF) will become smaller, thereby forming blur. Just keep this in mind; we’ll talk about depth of field a little later.

Some beginners associate a DSLR (or mirrorless) with the possibility of strong background blur, which is what they do when they get their hands on such a device. In fact, blurring the background “into the trash” is not always useful. Yes, all our attention is concentrated on the object being photographed, but there is nothing else in the picture! In many cases, it is better to still have background details visible. And plays an important role in this right choice focal.

Effect of focal length on perspective

To begin with, what is perspective? This is the nature of the transfer of the ratios of the sizes of the object being photographed and other elements in the frame, its shape. Consider the following frame, shot at 17 mm (wide angle):

There are road barriers and houses in the distance. If you shoot with a wide-angle lens, you get interesting geometric relationships - the scale of the fence will be noticeably larger than the house on the horizon. This is unusual for the human eye, and allows you to build interesting compositional solutions.

In the second case, shot at 125 mm (telephoto focal length range), the difference in scale between the fence and the house will be smaller.

In general, when photographing objects from one place with different focal lengths the perspective will not change.

Focal length affects perspective only if objects that are close or far away fall into the frame. In the example above (1st photo) you can see that there is a fence in the frame located close to us. Being close to us, the fence is depicted large in the frame, and the houses seem small in contrast. Therefore, it seems to us that the perspective is stretched. Another example is if you shoot a distant object with a long lens, and there is another object much further away, it will seem as if there is a minimum distance between them and they are nearby. As they say, compressed perspective. This occurs due to the photographer’s very strong distance from the subject being photographed, and the difference in the scale of the photographed object and the very distant background is not so great. This can also be seen in the example above (2nd photo). The fence is far away, the house is very far away, but it seems as if the distance between them is not too great.

Wide-angle lenses with short focal lengths are great for landscape photography. However, they are not recommended for use when shooting portraits, because the shape of the face will be more elongated and look unnatural. They say that wide-angle lenses (with a short focal length) stretch out perspective, and telephoto lenses (with a long focal length) compress it. But this happens primarily not because of a change in the focal length itself, but because of the need to change distance between the subject and the photographer.

Shooting handheld at long focal lengths

Problem.

Can be considered an additional activity for those who want to know more) I propose to move on to a short photo discussion and consider a simple situation. In fact, it’s worth “scrolling” such thoughts in your head constantly; very quickly you will get used to doing it automatically.

Let's say you're shooting a close-up portrait in the evening on a camera with an APS-C matrix. It’s not sunset yet, but it seems that there may already be problems with the lighting, it’s not enough. The goal is to remove beautiful portrait with strong background blur.

In fact, if you study photography from scratch and consistently read my articles (see), then you understand that your knowledge is not enough. But there’s nothing wrong with that - let’s reason with what we have and gradually expand the horizon of the unknown) Don’t worry, very soon the puzzle of knowledge will come together in your head. Just don't be lazy to think.

Recently we talked about the matrix, (ISO). So, at the same ISO on a camera with a smaller matrix (we are comparing cameras of approximately the same generation and manufacturer), the picture will be noisier. Usually the noise level of full-frame cameras is taken as the standard. It follows that it is very likely that our camera will be able to record less light with the same quality. Let me explain - when shooting with a full-frame camera at ISO 1600, we get an image of a certain noise level. When shooting on a camera with an APS-C matrix, in order to get the same noise level, we already need to shoot, for example, at ISO 400. This means that less light will get in, which is clearly not a good factor in our conditions.

We need to achieve a strong blur. This can only be done with a telephoto lens with a long focal length. The degree of blur depends on other factors (for example, the distance to the subject, aperture), but more on that later. Let's say we chose 105 mm. This is a fairly large focal length, and...

The longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed you need to choose. This will compensate for shaking in your hands and get a clear, not blurry photo.

Excerpt? What? Again, we will look at it in detail soon. In short, this is the exposure time of the matrix, i.e. the time during which light hits the matrix after pressing the shutter button. Get used to the word “exposure”) Now we come directly to the problem of handheld shooting with a lens with a long focal length.

You can make a comparison - imagine that you are in school and you need to point to a small detail on the board. Which would be easier to do – with a short handle or a long pointer? Of course, with a pen. The reason is that when using a pointer, minimal deflection of your wrist will result in significant deflection of the opposite side of the pointer. Using a pen, even with a significant deflection of the brush, its opposite edge will not deflect so much. That is, when using a long object as a pointer, we need to clearly fix the position of the hand.

It’s the same in photography, only more complicated. Where we point on the board is our subject. The lens acts as a pen or pointer. Well, the hand remains the drive of this entire mechanism) It is important to understand that the lock here is our strong grip on the camera, a comfortable stand and a short shutter speed (we reduce the exposure time of the matrix). Even if our brush moves at a significant angle, the shutter will operate faster, and the matrix will no longer “see” this.

Let's say we shoot at a shutter speed that is long for these conditions. What's happening? Light from a point on a person passes through the lens and hits the matrix, forming the same point. Our hand trembled slightly, the camera moved upward, and light from another point on the person fell on the same point of the matrix. And at this time the matrix continues to be exposed. As a result, we get a blurry image, or, in common parlance, “stir”. If the shutter speed were shorter, the result of the shift would not be recorded on the sensor, and we would get a clear photograph.

So what's the answer? And it is very simple - you need to find a balance, the optimal ratio of all parameters. Minimize problems and achieve the best possible results. This reminds me of university times) This is what we will learn.

What to remember about focal length?

I think you already understand what it is and what it affects. Now briefly to repeat the basic information:

1. Focal length is the distance between the optical center of the lens and the camera matrix.
2. Often abbreviated as FR.
3. Measured in mm.
4. The focal length is determined by the lens designers and does not depend on the camera on which the lens is installed.
5. Affects the viewing angle and image scale, allowing you to “zoom out” or “bring closer” objects.
6. Affects the degree of blur and depth of field.
7. Affects the perspective of the image.
8. At longer focal lengths it is more difficult to shoot handheld.

Focal length greatly influences the final result, so it is important to learn to “feel” it and choose the right one for specific purposes.

I suggest you go outside and try to shoot, for example, landscapes with different focal lengths, while being at one point. And observe how objects approach, how geometric relationships change. Take pictures of nearby objects, for example, a tree branch. You don’t even have to shoot, but simply change the focal length (if you have a zoom lens) and observe the changes in the viewfinder.

Over time, you will become so accustomed to your camera and lens that you will be able to determine the approximate result without looking through the viewfinder.

Good luck and see you soon!

4 comments on What is focal length? What does it affect?

Hello, Vlad! I read your lessons on photography, I really liked the articles about the device of the camera, everything is consistent, clear and intelligible. Thank you for this presentation of the material, I will look forward to the continuation with interest :)
Maybe you can make a short announcement about what other topics we can expect articles on? And what materials do you think are useful for a beginner to learn? Otherwise, there is so much, you won’t immediately understand what you need to deal with first)

• Good evening, Ekaterina!
  Thank you very much for appreciating my work, it’s always very nice to receive such feedback :) Motivates, because... I feel like this was useful to someone!

  1. Regarding announcements, there are materials on the horizon about crop factor, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure, dynamic range and... Perhaps I won’t reveal any more cards for now)

  2. Regarding materials that would be useful for a beginner to study. First you need to understand at what point a person is, i.e. what he knows at the moment and where he wants to go (what results to achieve) and based on this, plan the optimal steps to overcome this path. Tell us in general terms what you know at the moment and what you are striving for (what genre of photography attracts you most and what works inspire you).

  Generally speaking, in my opinion, a beginner needs to conduct an educational program for himself on critical aspects. These include the triangle of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, have an understanding of exposure, focal length, depth of field, shooting modes (shutter speed/aperture priority or manual, it’s better not to shoot in “Auto”) + basic aspects of composition. In general, having a superficial understanding of all this, I would further advise filming, filming, filming as much as possible.

  At the same time, pay attention to the surrounding space from the viewfinder position. Go, for example, to work and, watching how the light falls on the flowers, think about what angle they would look best from, how you would frame them... In parallel with practice, close the gaps in the basic theory of photography, look at many photographs of other people and reflect on how and under what conditions they were filmed. I think the latter is very important. Try shooting in RAW format, you can even start right away, especially if you have editing skills. RAW provides tremendous editing capabilities, “forgiving” many mistakes.

  You definitely need to learn how to process photographs - I’m not a supporter of applying a ton of processing to the original frame, but I think that doing basic things (exposure compensation, noise reduction, sharpening, working with shadows/highlights, color correction, eliminating noise, etc.) should be done, i.e. To. give a noticeably better perception of the final photograph. For my part, I can recommend Lightroom.

  And gradually move on to more advanced things, but by that time the “newbie” himself will be able to tell and show a lot of interesting things and he will definitely have an understanding of what to do and where to move next. For basic things, for example, I recommend reading articles on Alexander Shapoval’s website, he presents them well. And don’t forget that practice is everything.

  As for my plans, at the moment I have a desire to put together something like a textbook - a sequentially written manual, after reading which a beginner in photography could get comfortable, learn to get good results and critically approach the analysis of his/other people's photographs, the main thing is that learned to think. Plus he knew how to process his photographs, he could easily understand them when there were a lot of them and he simply loved photography)

  It is difficult to describe this at once and takes a lot of time. But gradually materials in chronological order for study will be added to the Lessons section (for now only technical ones, about processing later) + periodically I make Friday Mood collections, where I thematically present the works of other photographers who inspire me and seem interesting.

  P.S. To keep abreast of emerging materials, if you wish, I recommend subscribing to the email newsletter or VK group in the upper right corner of the site. And, of course, you can feel free to ask any questions in the comments or here. I will try to answer if possible.

Focal length

Focal length is the distance from the optical center of the lens to the focusing point (in mm), i.e. to the film (matrix), where a sharp image of the object is formed. For example, focal length 50 or 120 mm. What exactly is the difference? The difference lies in the choice of frame boundaries. Let's see what pictures can be taken from the same shooting point: the photographer does not move, but changes the focal length of the lens (or changes the lenses themselves on the camera).

focal length 24 mm, 30 mm, 50 mm, 120 mm, 180 mm, 300 mm

The shooting was carried out from a distance of 15-17 meters (from the window of the 4th floor of an ordinary five-story building), 2 lenses were used: a wide-angle zoom from Pentax, and a long-focus Soviet lens Granit-11m

In general, everything is not complicated: the more we increase the focal length, the more we bring the subject of photography closer (or, conversely, make it smaller). Even simpler: we increase everything that is more than 50 mm, and we decrease everything that is less than 50 mm. And, quite simply: a focal length of 100 mm is a 2x magnification, 180 mm is a 3.6x magnification. It couldn't be simpler. But why was 50 mm chosen as the reference point? It is generally accepted that this focal length corresponds to the angle of vision of the human eye (in fact, the peripheral vision of the eyes covers a much larger angle). They also believe that a standard lens has a focal length of 50 mm, since this is close to the diagonal of the film frame (43 mm). Don't look for difficulties in this. Sometimes they are created only in order to be successfully overcome :)

How to find out the focal length of a lens

This has already been discussed in the article “lenses”, we will repeat it for those who came here from other pages. How to find out the focal length? Very simple. The focal length is indicated on the lens frame, and its aperture ratio is indicated next to it. In the photo on the left we see the old Soviet Helios 44k-4, which has a focal length of 58 mm and an aperture ratio of f2 (indicated 1: 2). I indicated the focal length in the photographs with a yellow arrow.

What else can you tell about a lens by looking at its designations? A little.

This Helios model has a "K" bayonet mount (will fit a Pentax DSLR without any adapters), multi-layer coating, a constant focal length of 58 mm, f2 aperture, mounting thread for filters - M52x0.75, the lens itself was produced for Zenit cameras with a "K" mount "at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, the latter is indicated by the icon of a prism with a refracted beam... You can, of course, tell much more about this optics than its designations say - but this goes beyond the scope of the article about the focal length...

What is zoom

I already mentioned in the article “How to choose a camera” that stores often mention this characteristic. Actually, what is zoom? A zoom is a lens with a variable focal length, also known as a “zoom lens”, also known as a “vario lens” - there are many names, but the meaning is the same. Or more precisely, the complete absence of it :) For example, we have a typical lens focal length of 28-55 mm. Divide 55 by 28 and we get approximately the number 2. This means 2x zoom :) This figure is of absolutely no use, since, for example, a lens with a variable focal length of 100-200 mm also has a 2x zoom, but these are completely different lenses , from different angles of view and for completely different tasks. In this regard useful characteristic is only the focal length, therefore let’s return to studying it, and forget the marketing word zoom, or we will use it not for meaningless calculations, but only to designate a zoom lens. That's why:

A zoom is a lens that has a variable focal length. And nothing more!

The zoom is, of course, convenient, but at a disadvantage at the long end of the zoom, the aperture ratio almost always drops (especially with cheap optics). For example, the compact lens says 5.8-24/2.8-4.8. The last two digits mean the lens aperture, at the short end it will be 2.8, at the long end, correspondingly, less - 4.8. Those. As the focal length increases, the aperture will drop! Therefore, one small piece of advice: do not chase a huge zoom! There are digital compacts (read: small matrix!), with 20-30x (and even more) zoom. And here, when shooting at the long end of the zoom, the lens aperture closes sharply, resulting in less light coming in. This means that short shutter speeds will become unavailable, and shooting at long shutter speeds (without using a tripod) will lead to shakes and blurry pictures; either the automation (or you) responds by increasing the light sensitivity of the matrix, i.e. increases the signal on it, and the small camera matrix makes noise, but what happens in the end? Disgusting pictures. Therefore, choose a 3-4x zoom, otherwise, if you are not going to work with a tripod, it will be a waste of money!

A fixed lens is not a zoom, it is also a fixed focal lens, it is also a discrete lens... did I miss anything? Yes! It is also a lens with a fixed focal length :) You have already seen the prime in the Helios picture above. Once upon a time, all lenses were prime lenses, the first zooms appeared in the 60s of the last century, for example, the Rubin 1ts lens, focal length 37-80, aperture 2.8, was a standard lens for the Zenit-6 camera.

Zooms of that time had an interesting characteristic feature- they did not lose focus when changing focal length! Modern lenses lack this: alas, you need to focus every time after zooming... And this nasty thing was done in the name of reducing the cost of production. Autofocus, of course, helps, but if manual focusing is necessary (and it is sometimes necessary!), then one can only envy the wonders of ancient mechanics (and most importantly, the attitude towards the matter).

Focal length in 35 mm equivalent (EGF)

There are two focal lengths - real, and equivalent to 35 mm format cameras. The real is indicated on the lens; there is no equivalent in nature; it is calculated. Why such complexity and why is it needed? The fact is that film cameras (35 mm format) have the same frame size: 24 x 36 mm, and therefore it was easy to compare their lenses. If one camera had a focal length of the lens of 50 mm (standard fifty dollars), then a lens of, say, 28 mm was called a wide-angle, 70-100 mm was called a portrait lens, and over 100-150 mm was called a telephoto (or long-focus lens). This division was conditional, but it was understandable and satisfied everyone - some had a wider angle of view, others had a narrower one. Actually, we are talking specifically about the angle of view of the lens, it’s just that “bad” photographers confuse a beginner with terrible terms: “focal length”, “equivalent focal length”, “EGF”, “Crop factor of the matrix”, simply “crop”, and other nonsense that has only a secondary relation to the angle of view of photography, and therefore the composition of the frame :) In general, in the era of 35 mm film it was easier to compare lenses and engage in photography, rather than nonsense :)

Photographers are generally somewhat strange people. If you ask them in what units aperture is measured, then instead of a clear answer, you will hear a rather lengthy speech about the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the active lens aperture. They measure angles not in degrees, but in millimeters, the angle itself is called the focal length, and the photographic film is called 35 mm (and even 135 mm), although its frame size is... 36x24. Where the hell did these 35mm come from? It’s simple, let’s not invent new standards, but rather try to understand the old ones.

What is 35mm format? 35 mm is the width of the film including the perforated part.

Sometimes 35 mm photographic film is designated as type 135. The index 1 before the number 35 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 to indicate perforation (before that the film was non-perforated). Then other formats were offered, but they did not catch on: 35 mm photographic film supplanted everyone. And only a separate niche is occupied by medium and large format cameras.

However, with the advent of digital cameras, the situation has changed. If digital cameras had the same matrix size - 24 x 36 mm, then there would be no difficulties in comparing lenses. But only very expensive professional-class DSLRs have this size among digital cameras. Amateur DSLRs have a matrix size 1.5-2 times smaller than “full-size” ones, and digital compacts are even smaller than amateur ones. Such cameras are considered non-35 mm format and, depending on the sensor size, are designated APS-C, 4/3 and others. Naturally, the smaller the matrix, the smaller the angle of view of the lens. Therefore, it has become impossible to compare the same focal length if cameras have different size matrices To avoid confusion, we decided to introduce the term “equivalent focal length” (EFL), i.e. focal length for 35 mm format cameras - to compare with film having a width of 35 mm and a frame size of 36x24 mm. As a rule, the actual focal length is indicated on the lens, and in the user manual you can find out which EGF it corresponds to. Sometimes this can be found in brief description cameras in the store.

The focal length of the same lens does not change when installed on a camera with a smaller matrix - the angle of view changes. But, if you want, the focal length of the entire system (matrix + lens) has changed.

EGF is used only for comparing camera lenses with different crop factors - comparisons by angle of view. The terminology here is as follows: if a lens with a focal length of 50 mm is installed on a matrix 1.5 times smaller than a full-frame one, then they say that the EGF has become 75 mm - the angle of view has become the same as if the focal length were 75 mm. This is what it turns out. Yes, the focal length of the entire system has changed (the lenses themselves have not!), but the distortions within this lens have not changed, since they were “sharpened” at 50mm, not 75.

On a smaller matrix - with the same focal length - the frame will be cropped and the angle of view will be smaller

If the size of the matrix is ​​known, then the equivalent is easy to calculate. How many times the camera matrix is ​​smaller than the film frame, then you need to multiply the actual focal length by that amount to find out the equivalent one. This difference (or rather, the multiplier) is usually called the crop factor of the matrix. For example, Nikon DSLRs have a matrix size of 23.7 x 15.6. If the wide side of the film frame (i.e. 36 mm) is divided by 23.7, then the crop factor (here by crop I mean aspect ratio) will be approximately 1.5. You can divide the other side: 24 by 15.6, there will be the same crop. This means that the actual focal length, which is indicated on the lens, must be multiplied by 1.5 to get the equivalent. For example, a kit lens (from the English KIT - kit) for Nikon has a real focal length of 18-55 mm. We multiply 18 by one and a half, and 55 by one and a half, as a result we get 27-82 in 35 mm equivalent. And what does this mean? Rejoice, this is a universal lens - there is a wide angle for landscapes, and at the very least you can take portraits with a long one! It’s just a pity that the kit’s aperture is weak, but that’s a completely different conversation.

Equivalent focal length is used to compare camera lenses with different crop factors.

Those. when the matrix of such cameras is of unequal size.

Table of crop factors for different camera formats

The Russian word “multiplier” has long been replaced by the expression “Crop factor”, apparently to give their speech strange overseas shades, like, don’t think that I’m from Russia, I’m like from the states :-) Let’s look at the multiplier (or crop) for typical photosensitive sizes camera elements:

As for compacts, they have matrices 4-8 times smaller than the size of a film frame! For example, a typical 1/2.5"" matrix has a wide side size of 5.8 mm, i.e. 6.2 times smaller than the 36 mm film side. The lens of such a camera with a focal length, for example, 5.6 - 17.7 mm, will correspond to 35 - 110 mm EGF. Let's take a DSLR camera with a 1.5 crop size and a lens marked with a focal length of 16 - 45 mm. After multiplying by 1.5 we get the equivalent focal length - it will be 24 - 67 mm. Now you can compare the lenses of these cameras - this compact has a longer focal length lens, and the DSLR has a wider angle. Whatever one may say, all sizes will be compared with 35 mm film for a long time!

Focal length and lens types

More precisely, the equivalent focal length, types of photography and angle of view of lenses for 35 mm cameras. Here we clearly see how meaningless the word zoom is, or rather the zoom factor :) Focal length rules!

* macro photography depends more on the special properties of the lens than on the focal length.

For example, it’s good to shoot a landscape with a wide-angle: such optics have a higher depth of field, and at a wide shooting angle it will fit more). A wide angle is important in a landscape, in an apartment, in architecture, in a city, in any limited or unlimited space, and wherever it is necessary to emphasize the expressiveness or dynamics of the plot. And it’s convenient to zoom in with a telephoto lens, i.e. zoom in on a hard-to-reach subject. For example, the face of a lion in the wild and in the entire frame :) A wide-angle has a focal length of less than 35 mm, a standard 35-65 mm, a telephoto lens - from 65 to 300 mm and even higher.

And a station wagon can have them all in one bottle, for example, 24-200, 35-105, 28-116 mm, etc., which is its main advantage. The disadvantage of all universal lenses is that they are inferior to a specialized lens (for example, a telephoto lens), as a rule, in terms of aperture, or maximum focal length, or in price (with the same aperture, the price will be higher), or in quality.

The simple (couldn’t be simpler!) picture on the left will help you understand all of the above about the angle of view of various lenses. We clearly see how the focal length changes the angle of coverage of the frame, i.e. the scene or plot being filmed. This division is, of course, very arbitrary. A long-focus telephoto lens is used to shoot landscapes, and a wide-angle lens is used to shoot everything, even portraits.

It is clear that the choice of lens always depends on the tasks, creative preferences and even the mood of the photographer. Beginners can take a large zoom with a coverage of 28-200 mm (or 24-1000 mm, there is even one!), and end up with a huge selection of focal lengths, here you have a wide-angle + standard + telephoto + very large telephoto, and all the happiness in one bottle.

Indeed, why bother with a selection of kilograms of additional optics! However, the disadvantage of this choice is the small aperture (especially at the maximum focal length), and optical distortions (aberrations), alas, all large zooms have similar disadvantages.

Focal length and aberrations

The greater the difference between a wide angle and a long one, the stronger the optical distortions of all kinds, called aberrations. Engineers minimize them by adding low-dispersion and aspherical lenses to the optical design, but then the weight and price of the lens will be much higher. Moreover, aberrations are not completely eliminated, they are simply made less noticeable, as much as possible. Therefore, a universal lens, solving some problems, gives rise to new ones :)

The best in this regard would be a prime lens - a lens that has a fixed focal length (it has only one). It’s easier to remove distortion in this than in zoom. In addition, prime lenses are distinguished by higher aperture ratio, smaller dimensions, and the best price/aperture ratio. And, nevertheless, covering several focal lengths at once (which is what the station wagon does) attracts many...

There are three main groups of aberrations: distortion (geometric distortion), chromatic aberration (color distortion) and, finally, diffraction (loss of sharpness at tightly closed apertures). The most common example for a wide-angle lens is distortion. The wider the angle and scope of the zoom, the greater the so-called. barrel distortion (if not corrected with additional lenses). To understand this thing more clearly, look at the picture.

A photograph that is very crooked at the edges is, of course, characteristic of inexpensive lenses or fisheye optics, but not of crooked hands. Although... how to say, cases are different. For example, crooked hands are not able to correct distortion either in Photoshop or in any other graphic editor!

Below is an example of geometric distortion (barrel distortion) of a very expensive Pentax DA 15mm f/4 AL Limited prime lens compared to a Pentax DA 16-45mm f/4 ED AL wide-angle zoom lens. A couple of test shots were taken from about two meters away, with the same settings, and at the widest angle. The only difference was the focal length: the prime has the only one - 15 mm, and this zoom has the widest - 16 mm, which is equal to 23 and 24 mm in EGF, respectively. It’s better to enlarge the pictures and look at the distortion at the edges...

focal length 15 mm (EGF 23 mm), Pentax 15mm f/4 Limited

Focal length 16 mm (EGF 24 mm), Pentax 16-45 mm f/4

The wider the angle, the greater the distortion. Since the Limited has a wider focal length, it was expected that there would be a little more distortion, or, in any case, a fight would flare up. But it didn’t work out: the fix won unconditionally! Its geometric distortion is minimal, and the Pentax 16-45 has it, which is quite expected for any zoom (and quite acceptable for a zoom of this class).

All other things being equal, the most expensive lenses in terms of price are wide-angle lenses, and, of course, long-focus (telephoto) lenses. But the most expensive of them will be fast, and, of course, dust and waterproof professional lenses with ultrasonic motors and reduced optical distortion. As a rule, such lenses are large and heavy, since they have more lenses in the optical design to eliminate aberrations.

Less distortion is produced by lenses with a focal length of a short range “around” 50 mm; they are also called “standard” or “normal”. In addition to zooms, the standard ones also include some primes, for example, “fifty kopecks” (focal length = 50 mm). The distortion of such fixes is minimal, but there is only one drawback (and a very significant one!) - there is no zoom. :)

One of the typical fixed lens designs. Lenses of various shapes
designed to eliminate distortion.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to focal length, lenses can be divided into macro lenses and portrait lenses. Distortion of the former is removed at the minimum focusing distance, and of the latter in the “portrait” zone (around 1.5-2 meters).

You need to remember that on a cropped DSLR (APS-C format) the normal (or standard) focal length will be not 50, but 30-35 mm. For those who don’t understand, read again about the equivalent focal length :) If even after this it’s not clear, then I advise you to choose a full-frame camera, where the real focal length is equal to the equivalent one, and you don’t have to convert one into the other :)

The widest angle compact cameras.

What is the minimum focal length for digital cameras with a non-replaceable lens (i.e. compacts)? In EFR, the wide angle of most models starts from 35-38 mm, i.e. It's not that wide. There are also those with a larger viewing angle, for example, Nikon Coolpix 5400 - a minimum focal length of 28 mm, some Panasonic models have an even shorter focal length, for example, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37 - 25 mm. But such a wide angle will not surprise anyone.

But there are compacts with truly wide-angle optics: a focal length of 24 mm (and even less!). Starting in 2010, I conducted a survey that looked like this:

“If anyone knows a compact camera with a wider angle (with a shorter focal length in EGF), send me the name of the model, I will list it on the website.”

Here are the names of those who sent (as promised):

Yuriy Dzyubina from Ukraine, Sergey Baum from Moscow, Evgeny Afonasenkov from Volgograd (indicated 2 cameras), the author of this site (how can you not mention yourself?), Roman Eltsov from Yaroslavl, who did not want to be called “shifted”, and Andrey Andronov from the Volgograd region .

But since then, many compacts with a focal length of 24 mm have appeared, so I will not list all the models whose names were submitted to the site by its readers. But I’ll still point out a couple of memorable cameras.

Samsung EX1, focal length 24 mm, matrix 1/1.7", 10 MP, aperture f1.8 - f2.4, manual settings, weight 160 g. A camera with a very decent aperture and a rather large matrix for a compact! And the camera costs about 100 rubles for every gram :)

KODAK EASYSHARE V570 with two lenses built into the body(!). Wide-angle prime - focal length 23 mm, aperture f2.8. The second lens is a zoom with a focal length of 39-117 mm and a much weaker aperture: f3.9-f4.4. This double-headed digital camera also has 2 matrices, but it seems that there are no settings such as shutter speed and aperture... But the solution is original. Weight 125 g. It could be even lighter and cheaper, if you leave 1 wide-angle prime and remove the zoom - you would get an excellent landscape photographer with an ideal price/quality ratio!

But there is an even shorter focal length.
An even wider angle was found: 21 mm!

02/26/2011 Casio TRYX camera. Focal length 21 mm EGF, matrix size 1/2.3", 12 MP, aperture - f2.8. Indicated by someone shifted.

07/31/2011 Found 1 more compact with the same angle! Camera Samsung WB210. The focal length of the lens is 24-288 mm, but in special mode it produces 21 mm EGF. Matrix size 1/2.3", 14 MP, aperture - f2.9-f5.9 (and f3.4 in 21 mm mode). Camera indicated by Andrey Andronov, Volgograd region.

08/28/2013 Found a compact with an even wider angle! Camera LUMIX DMC-FZ72. The focal length of the lens is 20-1200(!) mm, apparently the world's largest superzoom (60x). Matrix size 1/2.3", 16.1 MP, aperture - f2.8-f5.9, manual settings, weight: 606 g. Camera indicated by Victor, Kemerovo.

For 2013, the widest focal length of a compact
has LUMIX DMC-FZ72 - 20 mm in EDF!

This is how we all look for and find the widest angle together!

5 years have passed, and a wider angle than 20 mm has not been found (perhaps this is the limit for compact cameras). However, a letter arrived about another camera with a 20 mm EGF.

04/04/2018 Lens focal length 20 mm with viewing angle 94°. Camera FC330 as part of the DJI Phantom 4 quadcopter. Matrix size 1/2.3", 12.4 MP, aperture - f2.8. The camera was indicated by someone who wished to remain incognito.

For 2018, the widest-angle focal length of 20 mm in the EFR of compacts
have only 2 cameras mentioned above.