Taking a picture as your eye sees it.

[Ektagraphic]

Hello-
My dad has longed to see a picture "exactly as the eye sees it". What lens would do this. Is it possable to have a lens that is just the same mm as the eye? Thanks

[Ian Grant]

Peoples eyes vary, just like lenses. Some of us have extremely good peripheral vision, mine's like the widest possible fish eye but rather panoramic so very good left right but not top bottom. For me I guess 17mm (cropped top/bottom), good crisp vision but with extreme fisheye at the periphery.

Others have a smaller angle of vision more like a 28mm, and of course those with tunnel vision have a very small angle of vision more like 80-135mm

Ian

[archphoto]

The best way to try that out is to use a zoomlens in the range of, say 21-50mm and test.
As any biological component all eye's are diferent.

And don't forget that we see in stereo, so wider than with a single eye.
Taking that into account you might be better off with an even wider zoom just to be safe.

I came out with a view of a 21mm.... pretty wide I think.

Peter

[Pinholemaster]

One eye or two?

[Ektagraphic]

One eye, I guess.

[Nicholas Lindan]

The focal length of the lens does not matter.

What does matter is that you hold the print at such a distance that the angular dimension of an object in the print is the same as the object viewed in real life. If you use a wide angle lens then you need to hold the print close, if a telephoto lens then the print should be far away.

In general:

For a 4x6" print, and a 50mm taking lens, the correct viewing distance is 8 inches; for an 8x10" print the viewing distance is 15". If you use a 28mm lens then the correct viewing distances are 5" and 8". The numbers may vary an inch or two depending on how you fill an 8x10 print with a 2:3 negative.

[fschifano]

One eye, you guess? Well, that's not how people see. If you really want to approximate what the way humans and other higher primates see, you'd probably need to go to a stereo camera and viewer. Then there is the question of what exactly you want to see. Sure, we as humans, have a fairly wide peripheral vision, but almost everything outside a rather narrow angle of view directly ahead is perceived more as motion than as a sharply focused image. Think about it. You see something move out on the periphery of your vision and you automatically turn your head towards that perceived movement to bring it into sharp focus.

[Ian Grant]

That has no bearing on the question Nicholas

[bsdunek]

Actually, I think Nicholas is on the right track. It's like walking right up to a wall mural and saying it doesn't look right, or holding a 3X5 at arm's length. I would suggest that the viewing angle has to be normal and then it will look like it does to the eye. The only problem is, the viewing angle may vary somewhat with the presons eye, but I'll bet this is a minor difference. Just IMHO.

[Ektagraphic]

I agree with all of this. I was reallly unsure of what would happen walking into this question.