WordNet
n. the angle included by a photographic lens [syn: view angle]
Wikipedia
In photography, angle of view (AOV) describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.
It is important to distinguish the angle of view from the angle of coverage, which describes the angle range that a lens can image. Typically the image circle produced by a lens is large enough to cover the film or sensor completely, possibly including some vignetting toward the edge. If the angle of coverage of the lens does not fill the sensor, the image circle will be visible, typically with strong vignetting toward the edge, and the effective angle of view will be limited to the angle of coverage.
A camera's angle of view depends not only on the lens, but also on the sensor. Digital sensors are usually smaller than 35mm film, and this causes the lens to have a narrower angle of view than with 35mm film, by a constant factor for each sensor (called the crop factor). In everyday digital cameras, the crop factor can range from around 1 (professional digital SLRs), to 1.6 (consumer SLR), to 2 ( Micro Four Thirds ILC) to 4 ( enthusiast compact cameras) to 6 (most compact cameras). So a standard 50mm lens for 35mm photography acts like a 50mm standard "film" lens even on a professional digital SLR, but would act closer to an 80mm lens (1.6 x 50mm) on many mid-market DSLRs, and the 40 degree angle of view of a standard 50mm lens on a film camera is equivalent to a 28 - 35mm lens on many digital SLRs.
Usage examples of "angle of view".
A new camera unit was also designed that could swivel not only horizontally but also vertically to catch every conceivable angle of view.
They held their heads high, the long straight slender horns transformed by distance and the angle of view into the single straight horn of the unicorn.
Perhaps heaven was not a place, but merely an angle of view, a vantage, a perspective.
From my new angle of view and by the faint rainbow halo that now surrounded her I finally saw the lady's face.
If the angle of view is inconvenient for what I have in mind, I can change the angle, and so on.
The upper atmosphere along Rodeo's rim was producing some gorgeous prismatic light effects at this angle of view.
Individual structures, whether dwelling places or public buildings, were inset in an intricate multicolored mosaic which, close at hand, was a meaningless jumble, but at a distance of a hundred yards took on a soft clustering of hues that melted and changed with the angle of view.