depth of field

American  

noun

Optics, Photography.

1. the range of distances along the axis of an optical instrument, usually a camera lens, through which an object will produce a relatively distinct image.

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depth of field British  

noun

1. the range of distance in front of and behind an object focused by an optical instrument, such as a camera or microscope, within which other objects will also appear clear and sharply defined in the resulting image Compare depth of focus

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Etymology

Origin of depth of field

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Yes there is not the same depth of field on LIV, but Data Golf, who crunch the numbers from all tours, rank the Spaniard second only to Scheffler in their global standings.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

This week, Tien enters the ATP Masters 1000 event — often dubbed the “fifth Grand Slam” for its prestige and depth of field — as the youngest player in the top 30.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

They used a process, called focus stacking, in which similar photos with different focal planes are blended to achieve a more profound depth of field.

From National Geographic • Oct. 10, 2023

His attention to the original photo was so precise that the land and leaves closest to the frame were slightly blurred to reflect the imperfections in a camera’s depth of field.

From Washington Post • Dec. 23, 2022

Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Annunciation of 1344, for example, uses a tiled floor and converging parallels to create a sense of depth of field.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton