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

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which 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 In 3D computer graphics, the image plane is that plane in the world which is identified with the plane of the display monitor used to view the image that is being rendered. It is also referred to as screen space. If one makes the analogy of taki ...

. 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 emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the crystals determine ...

or a digital

camera sensor An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to make 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 cu ...

, 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 bo ...

, a photographer using a

view camera A view camera is a large-format camera in which the lens forms an inverted image on a ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed and then the glass screen is replaced with the film, and thus the film is exposed to exact ...

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 A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

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