fish-eye lens

optics

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Last updated

June 26, 2026

Quick Summary

A fish-eye lens is a type of camera lens that captures an extremely wide angle of view, typically between 140° and 210°. This wide perspective results in significant image distortion, with details near the edges and corners appearing compressed. The lens achieves this by allowing light rays to diverge less behind the lens than in front. While this distortion is often used for artistic effect in photography, fish-eye lenses also have practical applications, such as capturing a full horizon-to-horizon view of the sky for cloud formation analysis.123

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technology of photography
Fish-eye lenses
For image angles greater than 110°, it becomes difficult to bring the lens close enough to the film to allow the rays between the lens and film to diverge sufficiently. The fish-eye lens overcomes this difficulty by making the rays diverge less behind…
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For image angles greater than 110°, it becomes difficult to bring the lens close enough to the film to allow the rays between the lens and film to diverge sufficiently. The fish-eye lens overcomes this difficulty by making the rays diverge less behind…
Read More