Smartphone Photography

Lesson Two Notes

Seeing the World through your Smartphone
Angle of View

To understand how lenses, differ from each other we first need to look at what is called the Angle of
View of human Vision.

This is essentially the view we see when we look straight ahead and how wide that view is. For most
humans when we look forward without moving our head, we can see an angle of view that is about
130 degrees wide. So basically, if you stand still do not move your head or eyes and just look forward,
you view of the world is about 130 degrees wide.

However, the area of our vision that is in focus is only about 50 degrees wide. This illustration shows
the width of our angle of view that is sharp and in focus (indicated in pink) when we look straight
ahead. As you can see it is a very small portion of our total vision (indicated in blue).

How does this relate to smartphones?

Smartphones can capture images much wider than what our focused vision can see. So, keeping in
mind that our eyes can only see about 50 degrees wide compare to our total angle of vision of 130
degrees.

Smartphones typically can have an angle of view up to about 83 degrees wide which is substantially
wider than our own 50 degrees of focused vision. Therefore, your smartphone has the potential to
capture more of a scene in focus than our eyes will see as focused. However, it is still narrower than
our total angle of view.

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What is Focal Length?

22mm

Point where image

becomes focused

There is a point in the lens when the image comes into focus.

This point is measured from the image sensor/film. (Sensor size is also a factor)

That is where the MM comes from.

The lower the MM the WIDER the lens angle of view is!

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 Optical Zoom

• The camera lens itself zooms in and out

• This means we can change for a wide angle to a zoomed in angle
• Usually measured as 3x, 5x etc
• This means if e.g. the lens is 22mm, it as a max zoom up to 66mm

Digital Zoom

• Digital Zoom is done by zooming in on Pixels

• This means effectively we are zooming in on the photo itself
• More pixels will mean a better Digital zoom
• Even then, Digital zoom is usually of poor quality and should only be used
as a last resort

Built in camera lenses

Currently most cameras will have one lens built into the phone, but more and more models are
offering 2 lenses or more. These of course are much more expensive but will allow the photographer
many more options when photographing. Let’s look at a phone that has 3 lenses are what these
typically are.

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Standard Lens

A standard lens refers to a lens that is used for everyday general photography and is typically wider
than our own focused field of vision, which is about 50 degrees. A standard lens will give a field of view
of about 83 degrees, so always be sure to check the edges of the frame when taking a photo.
Importantly, a standard lens will also use the max number of pixels available in the camera. The
aperture size will vary depending on the model but a general size ranges from f1.8 to f2.4, with the
latter being more common.

Super wide angle

These lenses will have a much wide angle of view compared to a standard lens. With these lenses the
angle of view may range from 120 – 150 degrees, with an aperture of about f2.2 depending on the
model. These lenses are great for landscapes and due to the wide angle of view, will typically keep
everything very sharp. This means it can be difficult to achieve a shallow Depth of Field with them.
And you make experience some distortion at the edges of the photo with these lenses. This can be
corrected afterwards. These lenses will not ultilise the full megapixels of the sensor, to allow for the
extra width instead.

Telephoto lenses

A telephoto lens is a lens with a higher focal length and a narrower angle of view. This means that you
will be closer to the subject with these lenses, making them ideal for a range of different types of
photos. These are great for candid portraits, sports, wildlife, and Macro. However, with telephotos
lenses you are at great risk of camera shake due to the increased focal length, and the megapixel
count will be significantly lower due to the lens using a much smaller portion of the sensor

Of course if you only have one lens available to you, it is possible to purchase lens attachments, that
will offer you a variety of focal lengths and photo opportunities.

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Lens attachments

Lens attachments can offer us an alternative view of the world, either narrowing the field of view of
your camera or widening it. These are available as clip on or screw mounts.

Typical lens options available to smartphone users are:

Wide Angle Lens

• A lens with field of view wider than the angle of focused human vision. Designed for all round
use

• Range from 10mm - 20mm eqv.

• Good all-rounder for landscapes, people, and street

• A good lens type to start with

• Available as clip on and a screw mount

Telephoto

• Comes in 5x – 20x range

• Range from 24 – 400mm

• Good for portraits, sports, wildlife, and close ups

• Aperture ranges will vary

• Some will have a zoom option, meaning you can zoom in and out with them

• Some will also include a small tripod to help steady the image

• Telephoto lenses are more prone to Camera shake

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Macro

• Essentially a magnifier for your lens

• Designed to increase minimal focus distance

• That is how close the lens can get before it can no longer focus

• Good for food, flowers, insects and abstracts

• Like telephotos, they come in 5 x, 10 x etc. This measures how much magnification there is,
not increase in focal length.

Portrait

• Designed for portraits!

• Range from 50 – 100 mm

• 60 – 85 mm considered the optimal range

• Closeness to subject will help with DOF

• Can be pricey for high quality ones

Fisheye Lens

They give us an extremely wide view of the world. In order to achieve this wide view, the images are
very heavily distorted which is very prominent around the edges. Curved lines are a typical distortion
with these lenses.

• Fun lens

• Focal length less than 10 mm

• Distinctive shape and photo

• Heavy distorted circular shape

• A good lens type to start with

• Can be used for anything, it is a fun lens to play with

• Kind of limited really for professional use

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