Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context photography English) A short focal length lens having a wide field of view.
WordNet
n. a camera lens having a wider than normal angle of view (and usually a short focal length); produces an image that is foreshortened in the center and increasingly distorted in the periphery [syn: fisheye lens]
Wikipedia
In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photograph, which is useful in architectural, interior and landscape photography where the photographer may not be able to move farther from the scene to photograph it.
Another use is where the photographer wishes to emphasise the difference in size or distance between objects in the foreground and the background; nearby objects appear very large and objects at a moderate distance appear small and far away.
This exaggeration of relative size can be used to make foreground objects more prominent and striking, while capturing expansive backgrounds.
A wide angle lens is also one that projects a substantially larger image circle than would be typical for a standard design lens of the same focal length. This large image circle enables either large tilt & shift movements with a view camera, or a wide field of view.
By convention, in still photography, the normal lens for a particular format has a focal length approximately equal to the length of the diagonal of the image frame or digital photosensor. In cinematography, a lens of roughly twice the diagonal is considered "normal".
Usage examples of "wide-angle lens".
But when he emerged, a relatively crisp image appeared, Feaver and Skolnick each slightly distorted by the wide-angle lens.
As he drifted below the tail, so close now that even the wide-angle lens could take in only a third of the flukes, Clay noticed some unusual markings on the tail.
Morin did as he was bid, switching to a wide-angle lens which created the illusion of backing away from the galleon for an overall view of the wreckage rather than a tight close-up of the cannon port.
I don't know, it's hard to piece together now, we were so nervous, it was like everything was under a wide-angle lens, you could see the whole store from wherever you stood, then somebody moved and the gun popped and the store guy was stone dead in an instant.
It had been taken by somebody who had squatted down in front of and to the left of the jeep, with wide-angle lens.
He was directly above the main doors that led out towards the horseshoe drive, a wide-angle lens swallowing up the tapering hub of the Pacific Vista, a note in the back of his mind telling him to get back here tomorrow with a fish-eye.
A head-on angle of the cockpit crew, slightly fish-eye from a wide-angle lens.
The camera was mounted in the corner and fitted with a wide-angle lens to cover anything that happened without having to be adjusted.
Facing the black-glass walls of the city hall, I set up my camera, using the wide-angle lens, and focused.