Vision System FOV Calculator

FOV Width follows FOV = (Sensor Width x Working Distance) / Focal Length, so Focal Length sits in the denominator: a longer focal length lens concentrates the same sensor area onto a smaller physical region at the same working distance, narrowing the field of view. This is the same principle behind a telephoto camera lens "zooming in" on a smaller area than a wide-angle lens at the same distance.

Working Distance appears in the numerator of the FOV formula, so increasing it proportionally increases both FOV Width and FOV Height -- a camera farther from the inspection surface sees a physically larger area through the same lens and sensor, exactly like how a photo taken from farther back captures more of a scene.

Horizontal Pixel Density (px/mm) divides the camera's fixed Horizontal Resolution pixel count by FOV Width. If FOV Width increases (a wider view) while pixel count stays the same, those pixels are spread across more physical distance, so pixels-per-mm falls -- meaning less fine detail can be resolved per unit of the part being inspected. This is the fundamental trade-off between field of view and resolution in machine vision.

It solves the FOV formula backward for focal length, answering "what lens focal length would produce exactly the Required FOV Width I need, at this working distance and sensor size?" This is a practical lens-selection tool: enter the FOV you need to see, and the output tells you what focal length lens to buy.

No -- it is a simplified approximation that assumes a fixed f-number of 8 (a common industrial machine-vision aperture setting) and uses the sensor's pixel size as a stand-in for circle of confusion. Actual depth of field also depends on the specific lens design and the true aperture setting used, so this output should be read as an approximate guide rather than a precise optical specification.