Telephoto lens

In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a lens where the focal length is significantly longer than the diagonal of the image projected within the camera. For a 35 mm camera with a 24 by 36 mm format, the diagonal measures approx. 43 mm and a lens of focal length 70 mm or more is considered telephoto.

In addition to making objects appear closer then they are, the resulting image will also have a certain degree of perspective distortion.

See angle of view for an example of an image taken by a telephoto lens.

See also: film format, normal lens