Wide-angle lens facts for kids

One of Canon's most popular wide-angle lenses - 17-40 mm f/4 L retrofocus zoom lens.

A wide-angle photograph of steps showing the perspective distortion. The distortion is due to the distance at which the picture is taken. The front stairs appear to tip forward.

A wide-angle lens is a lens that has a focal length that is shorter than that of the normal lens. Normal lenses have an angle of view of between 40° and 50°. Wide-angle lenses have an angle of view that is bigger.

For the 135 film format (the most popular photographic film type), normal lenses are 50mm focal length. 35mm (with an angle of view of 63 degrees) and 28mm (75°) are slight wide-angle lenses.

24mm (84°), 20mm (94°), 17mm (104°) and 14mm (114°) offer more extreme views (for 35mm film).

This is different for digital photography. Many digital cameras use smaller sensors. This means that the focal lengths have an angle of view that is smaller. That way, an 18mm lens mounted on a digital camera of this type gives an angle of view of the 28mm wide-angle lens, namely 75 degrees, for a multiplier of 1.5.

One kind of wide-angle lens is a fish eye lens.

Telephoto lens is the opposite. It has a long focal length, and a narrow angle of view.

Images for kids

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  How focal length affects photograph composition. Three images depict the same two objects, kept in the same positions. By changing focal length and adjusting the camera's distance from the pink bottle, it remains the same size in the image, while the blue bottle's size appears to dramatically change. Also note that at small focal lengths, more of the scene is included.

See also

In Spanish: Objetivo gran angular para niños