35mm equivalent

The 35mm equivalent of a lens on a crop sensor camera is the focal length of lens a 35mm (or full frame digital) camera would need to be fitted with to give the same angle of view.

If a camera with a large sensor and a camera with a small sensor take a picture using the same focal length of lens, the lens presents the same image to the sensor in both cases. But the small sensor records a smaller part of that image, so the angle of view is narrower. To get the equivalent image on the large sensor camera, a lens of longer focal length (narrower angle of view) would be needed.

The 35mm equivalent of a lens on a crop sensor camera is the focal length of the lens multiplied by the sensor's crop factor.

For example, a Nikon DX camera has a crop factor of 1.5, so a 50mm lens has a 35mm equivalent of 50 x 1.5 = 75mm. The angle of view on the Nikon DX camera is the same as a 75mm lens on a 35mm camera.

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