Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Curvature of field refers to a lens' ability to render points *on the same plane and parallel to the film plane* everywhere within the field of view, as in-focus points on the film. This is why flat-field lenses are preferred for copy work as well as for projecting transparencies that are in glass mounts. As it applies to wide-angle lenses in practical photography, a lens with high field curvature would not produce stellar results photographing a wall mural, for example, or the face of a building, i.e. flat subjects parallel to the film plane. For landscape photography with foreground and background objects at varying distances, field curvature would still have an effect but it would not likely be as noticeable. Hope this helps clarify a bit.