Our 50mm lens and distortion:

I never seem to upload a render to here which displays well. Maybe that depends on the current moderator at any given time but who knows. So here I inserted a point lamp right over the foreground where I have a observation / question. In particular the lower left hand corner.

While I like the 35mm default lens in this animation I want the real human field of view. With the least distortion if you will. And, this has been done using a 50mm lens which is standard in the film world although some photographers say a 60mm is closer to that. Now while I was interested in photography many years ago and knew about parallax and all that this is a recent observation in Blender. Although I have no idea why this would surprise me.

Our lenses here evidently have the same distortion as if I had that Nikon N90s in hand. And, what I’m talking about is the floor board in the lower left hand corner and how fast the size falls off as your eye moves to the right. Part of this is no doubt how long it’s been since I actually attempted any serious photography and also how readily our eye accepts distortion in a photograph. And, if distortion is not the right word I apologize to our current photographers but hopefully you know what I mean here. But, I repeat a viewer will readily accept this in a photograph.

Maybe I will try a 60mm just to see how that reads but it’s obvious our choice of lenses in an animation makes a difference. And, yes between shots you could change the lens and that would be right on time to get your story across and add some drama. But, in a walkthrough situation that wouldn’t play to well as I see it.

Just a thought for our new animators here hopefully. You seasoned directors no doubt have all of this covered. lol


Scene with a 60mm lens and closer to the intended lighting. And, yes to use a 60mm lens you have to move some walls back. But, for this I actually like it. Although the gallery here obviously has much work to be done. And, I can’t see riding up on the elevator with a 60mm lens but we will address that in due time.

Anyway the point is change the lens occasionally and see what it looks like. You wouldn’t own a DSLR camera for long with a 35mm fixed lens without wanting something else and believe me that something else might have you headed for bankruptcy. Here we have lenses a New York product photographer doesn’t have with the click of a mouse.

Not to mention lighting and settings he is probably in debt for totaling half a million or more. And, we have no concern about aperture / speed which means we have the upper tier lenses right here in Blender. After giving all my camera equipment to my youngest daughter that made me smile somehow. I was thinking go with god girl and carry your credit card with you. The point being here, for you new comers to animation, do play with the lens settings and try it at different distances since your camera is moving.


I wrote something about concave and convex lenses so it could be of interest regarding how lenses work and are made of: http://zoom.camp/concave-lenses-optical-use-definitions/

Garais interesting article, thanks.