35mm equivalent focal length

Definition: Focal length of lens which, on 35mm format, gives the same field of view as that of a lens used for a different format. * Used to compare effect of focal length of unfamiliar formats against the most familiar. * Particularly useful measure with digital cameras as the size of the image sensor is not standard e.g. a 10mm focal length on a 16mm sensor has a different view from 10mm focal length on a 12mm sensor. Not only that, the format of the sensor varies too - from 4:3 to 16:9. So it's easiest to compare against the 35mm format, with its 2:3 aspect ratio. * Using a format smaller than 35m has the effect of cropping into the frame which has the effect of zooming into the image, appearing to increase focal length.

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