20
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If viewers don't respond to the rule of thirds, why do some photographers still emphasize it?
I was tempted to mark this to be closed as "primarily opinion based" but then realized that I can prove that the "rule" of thirds is not a matter of opinion. Well, sort of. In one specific way. Maybe.
...
- 12.4k
12
votes
Accepted
How do I calculate the “effective focal length” of a cropped photo?
It's pretty much strictly linear unless you're talking about very close focusing distances or macro distances. For everything else, what little you may be off is probably less than the rounding error ...
- 172k
12
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't the focus distance at which my lens has magnification 1 match the formula?
The equation assumes a simple single element lens that is bilaterally symmetrical. The camera lens, to mitigate the 7 major aberrations (shortcomings that degrade) is constructed using several ...
- 37.7k
12
votes
How to estimate pixels per degree for an image from a camera phone using EXIF data?
I assume this is a still frame from a video, because 16:9 is a common video ratio. In order to maintain constant frame size, "digital zooming" needs to be reinterpolated. Thus, yes, you need to ...
- 31.6k
11
votes
Accepted
Is it exactly true that doubling the focal length makes everything look twice as big?
Your intuition is right. To validate it, we can dig into basic high-school geometry.
Although a camera lens is actually a complex lens made from many elements, conceptually and mathematically for ...
- 142k
10
votes
Which SS/F-stop table is the correct one?
The quote from the book does not state that the numbers are intended for any specific lighting situation, so it appears to be indeed only concerned with showing how aperture and shutter speed can vary ...
- 4,624
10
votes
What is the power output from two speedlites combined?
Doubling the number of lights at the same power doubles the output. Assuming both speedlights are the same to begin with, and if they're both set to ¹⁄₆₄th power, that'll be like setting just one of ...
- 142k
9
votes
Why doesn't the focus distance at which my lens has magnification 1 match the formula?
first of all, kudos on your effort to break a photography problem down to first principles.
The discrepancy you've observed stems from a common oversimplification. Your 100mm Lens is actually what ...
- 1,989
9
votes
Shutter Speed from the Exif ShutterSpeedValue
Exif:ShutterSpeedValue is stored in rational form as an APEX value.
The APEX system is a way to calculate exposure and works using base-2 logarithms. The use of base-2 means a rise of one in the ...
- 26.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Why I am getting different values for depth of field from calculators vs in-camera DoF preview?
First, a word about what depth-of-field is and is not:
In a way, depth-of-field is an illusion. There is only one plane of focus. Everything in front of or behind the point of focus is out
of ...
- 172k
8
votes
Accepted
Can I increase 35mm-equivalent focal length with both the crop factor and an extender?
Well, the main thing is that crop factor doesn't really affect focal length. It just affects the field of view by making it narrower. So, what you really have is a 400x1.4x => 560mm lens combination ...
- 50.5k
7
votes
How to calculate the optimal pinhole size?
The earliest investigation of the right constant c that I am aware of is Petzval's 1859 On the camera obscura. The paper is predominantly about a new lens design he has created but he begins with an ...
7
votes
Accepted
Which SS/F-stop table is the correct one?
Like Michael says, the top chart is just hypothetical, and it only uses some random exposure, and is NOT about any specific exposure condition. Instead, it tries to show two concepts.
It is an ...
- 12.8k
7
votes
Why I am getting different values for depth of field from calculators vs in-camera DoF preview?
What am I missing?
You're missing that Depth of Field is subjective. In actuality, there's only one plane that's in focus — everything else can't be. Then, there's an area around that plane that is ...
- 142k
7
votes
How do I calculate the “effective focal length” of a cropped photo?
Short answer: if you halve the width, you have (effectively) doubled the focal length.
- 10.7k
6
votes
Why is the field of view of my lens narrower than my calculations show it should be?
Here are some possible sources of error:
Manufacturer stated focal lengths are often rounded favorably or sometimes plain exaggerated (e.g. a 200mm might well be only 190mm).
Focal lengths are also ...
- 118k
6
votes
Accepted
How do I calculate the coordinates for secondary colors on a CIE chromacity diagram?
Performing the operation directly using the chromaticity coordinates (ie: taking the midpoint between the two chromaticity coordinates) will yield incorrect results as the chromaticity diagram is ...
- 850
6
votes
Accepted
How do I correctly convert from aperture diameter into f-stops?
Sensor dimensions don't matter.
F-stop is shorthand for "fractional" and what it's a fraction of is the lens focal length and the diameter of the iris and the real calculation is simply the lens ...
- 930
6
votes
Is it exactly true that doubling the focal length makes everything look twice as big?
It's not exactly true, but it's a first approximation and easily good enough for many practical purposes.
Let's consider an ideal thin lens. We're already introducing one level of errors, because ...
- 1,487
6
votes
Accepted
How to calculate stops of light lost from a teleconverter?
Although very little (single digit percentages) light is lost to a teleconverter, the ratio of entrance pupil to focal length grows proportional to the magnification of the telecon. For example, if a ...
- 1,989
6
votes
What is 'sensor height?'
Sensor height is indeed the physical measurement of the vertical dimension of the sensor's active pixel area.
From Wikipedia's Image sensor format article, the phone's sensor format of 1/3" (actually ...
- 31.6k
5
votes
If viewers don't respond to the rule of thirds, why do some photographers still emphasize it?
There is no ratio or particular number for division of the frame or placement of points which has any demonstrated special power. That includes both the rule of thirds and the golden ratio. However, ...
- 142k
5
votes
Accepted
Why isn't my computation of the actual size of an object in a photograph matching the expected value?
I think that you have, in fact, successfully answered this inverse question: How to test actual focal length?. It's not just infinity focus, but that lens focal lengths are generally rounded to ...
- 142k
5
votes
Can I use my camera to measure lens light transmission?
In a nutshell: no, you cannot use your camera to accurately measure light transmission. The problem is with the way your ISO control works on a digital camera. ISO is not a generic "amplify signal by ...
- 317
5
votes
How do I correctly convert from aperture diameter into f-stops?
F-number equals the focal length of the lens divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil. Since both measurements are linear dimensions when the same units of measurement are used for both the focal ...
- 172k
5
votes
Accepted
How to calculate the new focal length when usng a lens mount adapter
Lens mount adapters increase the pool of available lenses we are able to mount on any particular camera body. Adapters are basically mechanical coupling devices; however, some also couple electrical ...
- 37.7k
5
votes
Is the hyperfocal distance calculation outdated?
Hyperfocal distance is a specific application of the concept of depth of field.
There's only one distance that is in sharpest focus. Everything in front of or behind that distance is blurry. The ...
- 172k
4
votes
How can I calculate focal length from a photograph?
I appreciate this is an old post, but I'd like to share a tool which does all of this for you and more, in case someone else comes across this question like I did.
fSpy is a free tool allowing you to ...
- 41
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