Lens Magnification (m = −d_i/d_o)
Enter your known values, leave one input blank, and solves for the missing one. Try different units for next level excitement!
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Magnification falls straight out of similar triangles: the image is exactly as many times farther from the lens as it is larger. The sign encodes orientation — a real image from a single converging lens has positive d_i and d_o, so m is negative: the image is inverted, which is why a camera sensor records the world upside-down. |m| > 1 means enlarged, |m| < 1 means reduced.
Lens Magnification (m = −d_i/d_o)
Where
- = Magnification
- = Image distance
- = Object distance
Missing one of these? Work it out first, then come back
- Magnification — Magnification from Heights (m = h_i/h_o), Snell's Law of Refraction
- Image distance — Thin Lens Equation, Speed, Distance & Time
- Object distance — Thin Lens Equation, Speed, Distance & Time