For many years I have wanted to do photography that is as perfect of a copy of what the eye sees. It frustrates me to take a picture with my smartphone then compare it to what I see and they are totally different. Especially sunsets and sunrises. The picture is great, but it is not what I saw.
From a business perspective, we take a lot of pictures of stuff people are gonna rent. We want those pictures to look EXACTLY like they will when they get there.
It seems simple when you think about it, but as you dig in you find that it is much more difficult than that. The Eye works different than a camera.
So now the question becomes how can you take a picture does the best at approximating what the Human eye sees.
Below are my notes on this subject. I am still trying to figure this out, so I will add to these notes over time.
Closely approximating what the eye sees as exactly as possible.
in-depth article here https://petapixel.com/2012/11/17/the-camera-versus-the-human-eye/
First of all, is our depth of field
Our binocular field of view is about 114 degrees although our eyes have about a 135-degree field of view. Color saturation and perception is concentrated in the center of our vision.
Wikipedia breaks down what the Human eye’s field of view is
- central vision 60 degrees
- up 60 degrees
- down 70 degrees
- about 35 additional degrees for peripheal vision on each side of the central vision
So it would seem that 135 degree field of view is a good approximation of what we see
Now lets look at what this means in terms of cameras and lenses
| Diagonal Angle of View (in degrees) | 35mm Full Frame Focal Length | Nikon / Sony / Fujifilm | Canon Crop Focal Length | Micro Four Thirds Focal Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 114.4 | 14mm | 9.3mm | 8.75mm | 7mm |
| 94.49 | 20mm | 13.3mm | 12.5mm | 10mm |
| 84.06 | 24mm | 16mm | 15mm | 12mm |
| 75.38 | 28mm | 18.7mm | 17.5mm | 14mm |
| 63.44 | 35mm | 23.3mm | 21.9mm | 17.5mm |
| 46.79 | 50mm | 33.3mm | 31.3mm | 25mm |
| 28.56 | 85mm | 56.7mm | 53.1mm | 42.5mm |
| 24.41 | 100mm | 66.7mm | 62.5mm | 50mm |
| 18.21 | 135mm | 90mm | 84.3mm | 67.5mm |
| 12.35 | 200mm | 133.3mm | 125mm | 100mm |
| 8.25 | 300mm | 200mm | 187.5mm | 150mm |
Dynamic Range
The Human Eye’s dynamic range equates to 24 f-stops on a 35 mm camera. For various technical reasons to approximate what they eye sees then it needs 14 f-stops