# What FIELD OF VIEW does the Samsung Siii phone camera have?



## CVhobbyist (Nov 18, 2013)

I would like to know what angular field of view my smart phone camera has (a Samsung S3). I don't find any official documentation on it. I've asked Samsung and they politely answered that they will come back, but haven't replied to my reminding them several times after several weeks.

Does anyone here know, or recommend anyone who to ask?
Is there a way for me to find out by analyzing photos?
I suppose that the angles are different vertically and horizontally.


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## PJL (Nov 18, 2013)

Well, if you want to figure out the field of view on your own, stand in a marked spot and take a picture with objects at the edges of the frame. Draw a line from the point you were standing to each object. The angle between the two objects is a close approximation of your field of view.


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## CVhobbyist (Nov 18, 2013)

PJL said:


> Well, if you want to figure out the field of view on your own, stand in a marked spot and take a picture with objects at the edges of the frame. Draw a line from the point you were standing to each object. The angle between the two objects is a close approximation of your field of view.


I've tried a bit of that, but it's difficult to get consistent results. Could you suggest any suitable object to photograph? It seems to me that the slightest turning and twisting of the camera quickly gives huge differences compared to assuming it being lined up flat on towards the motive.

And I'm not sure where to measure the distance from: The surface of the lens? The back of the phone? Some other point due to optical/electronic effects?

Have you actually tried to do it yourself? If you try it with any of your cameras, and succeeds easily, then I'm doing something wrong. Or maybe you spontaneously underestimate the challenge and would be surprised by it. I'm grateful for your reply, I had the same thought at first, but in my experience it doesn't work very well in practice.


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## MOREGONE (Dec 5, 2013)

Hello,

I wrote a blog Called Your Everyday Prime sometime back that has that info listed. The SIII is 28mm

Hope this helps.


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## CVhobbyist (Dec 6, 2013)

How does the focal length, 28 mm, translate to field of view?

Anyway, I've found a way to measure it. I simply take a photo of a perfect sphere. It has the same shape regardless of angles. Still, I get about 1% varying results because the edges are fuzzy in the JPG. I'll try to extract some unprocessed image format (and a sphere which does not reflect, and arrange better lightning).


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## CVhobbyist (Dec 6, 2013)

Maybe I should tell my results too... :mrgreen:
When fully zoomed out, the Samsung S3 camera has field of view of 19.8 times 26.4 degrees. There are 123 pixels on each degree (at 2448x3264 resolution). This is my amaterurish calculation and even if I haven't made a big mistake, the error is at least 1%.

EDIT: First I typed half the angels, it is now corrected.


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