The image circle is the cross section of the cone of light transmitted by a

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

or series of lenses onto the image plane. When this light strikes a perpendicular target such as

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...

or a digital

camera sensor An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curren ...

, it forms a circle of light – the image circle. Various sensor aspect ratios may be used which all fit inside the same image circle, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, etc. A lens to be used on a camera that provides movements must have an image circle larger than the size of the image format (Adams 1980, 54). To avoid

vignetting In photography and optics, vignetting ( ) is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation toward the periphery compared to the image center. The word '' vignette'', from the same root as ''vine'', originally referred to a decorative b ...

, a photographer using a

view camera A view camera is a large format, large-format camera in which the large format lens, lens forms an erect image, inverted image on a ground glass, ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed, composed, and focused, then the ...

must ensure that the area remains within the image circle (Adams 1980, 56–57; 151–52; 157–61); a tilt/shift lens or perspective-control lens used on a small- or medium-format camera usually has mechanical limitations that keep the frame area within the image circle.

References

* Adams, Ansel. 1980. ''The Camera''. The New Ansel Adams Basic Photography Series/Book 1. ed. Robert Baker. Boston: New York Graphic Society. * Ray, Sidney F. 2000. The geometry of image formation. In ''The Manual of Photography: Photographic and Digital Imaging'', 9th ed. Ed. Ralph E. Jacobson, Sidney F. Ray, Geoffrey G. Atteridge, and Norman R. Axford. Oxford: Focal Press. * Ray, Sidney F. 2002
''Applied Photographic Optics''
3rd ed. Oxford: Focal Press

See also

References

Further reading