Is lens compression real? Fstoppers aims to show why it doesn’t exist

 

 

Lee Morris and Patrick Hall of Fstoppers decided to tackle the topic with the aim of showing that lens compression doesn't exist. As we can see in the video below, the background elements certainly -- and dramatically -- change in size relative to the subject, which in this case is Patrick's face. What's going on here if not lens compression?

Morris states that the effect is not the result of the lens itself at all, but rather the distance of the camera from the subject and from the background. To show this, Morris starts by capturing a shot from the same distance using a 400mm focal length and a 24mm focal length. By cropping in on the 24mm shot, we have the same frame as the 400mm shot.

Lens compression distortion doesn't exist then, but what about perspective distortion? That's definitely a common occurrence and we can learn more about that in the video below. For additional information on this topic and a series of sample images, head over to Fstoppers and read this article.

(Via Fstoppers)