What focal length lens approximates a human field of view?

nedcam

nedcam

Well-known member
I was asked to do a litigation support video of a location at night so naturally I thought DSLR. Does anyone know what lens would be best to approximate a person' field of view? Do we humans have an ISO rating for our eyes?

Thanks
 
Doesn't have to be DSLR. Our eyes are generally regarded to be about a 50-55mm full frame 35mm equivalent. You can calculate out if your camera has a smaller sensor than that.

As far as ISO, the human eye can see in conditions NO camera can. At least with white light. I'd imagine it would be well into 7 digits for an equivalent ISO.
 
Well for me, natural depth perception corresponds closer to something in the 80-90mm range, regardless of format. For acute field of view that would have to be on a medium format 6x7cm or something similar.

Fact is everyone's eyes are different. Your full peripheral field is around 160 degrees, your acute field is around 20-40 degrees for both eyes.
At least for my old eyes, the current gen DSLR's can see better under most night conditions than I can. That too varies considerably with age and genetics.
For night I would go with a DSLR and a "normal" lens. 40-50mm for FF camera or 25-30mm for APS-C. About as close as you can get.
 
ohh boy the lawers are going to have fun with this ... your going to have a hard time replicating the human eye with a camera .... I tried when i did a lot of legal video ... some of the things you will have to consider .... The angle of View is what you want to look for when choosing a lens Focal Length(FL) equivalent. FL and sensor size vary among formats but angle of view is a constant. Also the angle of view concept is for staring straight ahead. eye movement and head movement can actually allow humans to see wider then the 160 degree rule of thumb. Humans do not have a ISO rating ... our sensitivity changes as lighting conditions change sit in a dark room for a few minutes and your eyes adjust to the lower lighting conditions. in a manner of speaking the humans ISO is a sliding scale that increases over time. Also different parts of the eye behave differently to light . The eyes peripheral (outer edge) vision is more sensitive to moment and light than the center part of our vision. Our center vision is better at discerning color and detail . The brain merges the two together in to what is really a psychological perception or constuct. Age, health and mental processing are all factors in what we can actually see.
 
nedcam said:
I was asked to do a litigation support video of a location at night so naturally I thought DSLR. Does anyone know what lens would be best to approximate a person' field of view? Do we humans have an ISO rating for our eyes?

Thanks
Click to expand...


28mm

ISO? I think that would really vary with age, genetics, diet, etc.

.
 
Thanks everyone. I will be turning this down. It is about a witness POV at a shooting in Chicago's worst neighborhood, at night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top