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Definition of Wide-angle lens


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In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens is a lens whose focal length is shorter than the focal length of a normal lens. For a 35 mm camera with a 24 by 36 mm format, the normal lens is 50 mm. A lens of focal length 35 mm or less is considered wide-angle.

In addition to giving a wider angle of view, the resulting image will also have a certain degree of perspective distortion.

Extreme wide-angle lenses normally do not give a geometric projection, and are called fisheye lenses.