Tip for estimating field of view?

I read somewhere about a way to estimate field of view as it relates to focal lengh based on distances between various parts of your hand when held at arms length but I can't find it again. Can anyone point me to such a guide?

Wouldn't such a guide require that you measure the length of your arm and various parts of your hand? And then require that you adjust for crop factor?

Is this what you want?


http://www.fredparker.​com/vislize.htm

kwb wrote in post #10039225
Is this what you want?


http://www.fredparker.​com/vislize.htm

Yes, thanks.

Why would you use someone elses standards for this? Cant you just put a lens on, look through the finder, and then stretch your arm out to arms length and figure out what part of your hand covers the same angle? thats what I did when I used to shoot with primes and I wanted to know when I had foot zoomed to a good spot for the composition. I really think this is a "to each his own" kind of a deal. IMHO

I prefer Cubits as a unit of measure...

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #10039412
I prefer Cubits as a unit of measure...

Hands are handy (pun intended) for measuring horses.

A lens whose FL equals the horizontal measurement of the frame will see the same distance on the long axis as the subject distance.

36mm lens on FF sensor sees (about) 50' horizontally at 50' subject distance.
22mm lens on APS-C sensor sees (about) 50' horizontally at 50' subject distance.

tzalman wrote in post #10039645
Hands are handy (pun intended) for measuring horses.

Everytime I see that Burger King commercial where the guy won't get the burger because his hands are so small, I imagine him being hired to measure horses on ebay. "50 hands tall quarterhorse ++++ MINTY ++++"

birdfromboat wrote in post #10039374
Why would you use someone elses standards for this? Cant you just put a lens on, look through the finder, and then stretch your arm out to arms length and figure out what part of your hand covers the same angle? thats what I did when I used to shoot with primes and I wanted to know when I had foot zoomed to a good spot for the composition. I really think this is a "to each his own" kind of a deal. IMHO

As a rough guide it's going to work for most people because it relies on relative measurements. So a 100mm fov is one hand's-width for me. Now my hand is bigger than yours - but my arm is also longer than yours, so the angular size is about the same.

Astronomers have been using these 'handy' tools (like a fist at arm's length is around 10º) for many years.

hollis_f wrote in post #10043498
As a rough guide it's going to work for most people because it relies on relative measurements. So a 100mm fov is one hand's-width for me. Now my hand is bigger than yours - but my arm is also longer than yours, so the angular size is about the same.

.

We must ALL be very careful to always state the context, because there are people with APS-C cameras and others with FF cameras both reading and replying on POTN! The statement about 100mm FOV as one hand width applies only to APS-C...on FF 100mm FOV is 1.6 handspans!!!

With my thumb extended, it was about right for the 105mm on my Nikon F, too. (That's 35mm film, for the Google challenged.)