Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]sorry i don,t quite understand.wouldn,t the outer circles be rendered narrow iso of smeared out? simon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beddoe, Neil" <nbeddoe@lehman.com> To: "'Jean Louchet'" <jean.louchet@inria.fr> Cc: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 2:51 PM Subject: [Leica] Light has to travel in straight lines. > The relationship between perspective and viewpoint gets 'em every time. > > You are standing 2 metres from a wall covered in 0.1m diameter circles > looking through a 21mm lens at the wall. The film plane is absolutely > parallel to the wall and the lens is 100% distortion free. The angle of > view of a 21mm lens is 92 degrees. Which means you can see 4.1421m of the > wall across the diagonal. Assuming the centre of the furthest circle is 4m > off centre, the near edge will be 4.38m away and the furthest edge will be > 4.56 m away from the optical centre of the lens. A fixed length of line on > the circle's circumference at the far point will appear on the film to be > 4.38/4.56 or 96% of the same arc at the near point. > > Casual observers will note that on most circles 1 degree of arc on one side > is the same length as 1 degree on the other. > > Or: > > Buy the best 21mm lens you can get and stand 3 people up close but in a line > parallel to the film so that one's face is in the middle and the other two > are in the corner. The one in the middle will have a huge nose but the > outline shape of his or her head will be normal. The ones at the corner > will look as if they haven't finished teleporting from the deck of the > enterprise. > > The only way to get all the circles on your lovely ornate wall to render as > circles is to shoot from so far away that the ratio of their distances from > the film plane approaches 1. > > With thanks to Pythagoras. > > I've really got to do some work now. > > Kyle, I shot five rolls of Provia recently so I feel I've earned this. > > Neil > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jean Louchet [mailto:jean.louchet@inria.fr] > Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 12:53 PM > To: Beddoe, Neil > Cc: 'Leica Users Group' > Subject: RE: [Leica] laws of optics... > > > On Thu, 17 Jun 2004, Beddoe, Neil wrote: > > >> "Second example, let's imagine a vertical wall with lots of circles > >> painted on it (let's call it the Vasarely wall).If you take a picture > >> with the lens axis perpendicular to the wall, then ALL the circles will > >> print as circles on the picture. If the camera is oblique, then all the > >> circles will show as ellipses." > > > > Not quite true. With anything other than a long telephoto, you'd have to > > get close to the wall and this would mean that you'd be viewing the outer > > circles from an oblique angle which would render them as ellipses in your > > photograph. This has nothing to do with lens distortion and is just the > > normal effect of perspective. > > > > Neil > > > Sorry Neil, this is wrong. I could have said in simpler terms that as long > as the object plane is parallel to the film plane, the picture will be an > exact (non distorted) scale reproduction of the object, without any > distortion. This is obviously true with a pinhole camera and remains true > with all "homographic" lenses, even wide angle. Thus if the lens axis s > perpendicular to the wall, all circle (even far from the lens axis) will > project as circles, not ellipses. > > > Not quite true. With anything other than a long telephoto, you'd have to > > get close to the wall and this would mean that you'd be viewing the outer > > circles from an oblique angle which would render them as ellipses in your > > There is a confusion here about what you define as an "oblique angle". > As long as the lens axis remains perpendicular to the wall's plane all the > circles will be seen as circles, even if your eye has to turn obliquely to > see it. Then, if you turn the camera then the camera axis is oblique and > the circles project themselves as ellipses. What only counts is lens > orientation. > > Jean > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > This message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the > designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of > this message you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, > distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. 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