# Lenses

Each shot has its own lens. The Compose-mode lens dropdown carries a working set of focal lengths plus the film and social aspect ratios. Pick deliberately; lens choice carries through to the visualizer's auto-prompt and changes how the rendered image reads.

![Lens dropdown open in Compose mode showing the focal-length picker - Some Ultra-Wide, 24mm Wide (selected), 35mm Standard, 50mm Standard, 85mm Telephoto, Super Telephoto](/files/UFqMG57K1WXEL1AjPOQ8)

## What it does

Cinematographers pick lenses on instinct. The choice is doing real work: 24mm pushes scale and includes the environment around the subject; 85mm flattens depth and isolates the subject; an Ultra-Wide distorts at the edges, which can be expressive or wrong depending on the brief. Intangible's lens dropdown gives you the same vocabulary you'd reach for on a real shoot, and the visualizer reads the choice into the \[Scene Context] block of the auto-prompt, so the rendered image gets the right "feel" without you describing it in text.

## How to use it

Each shot has a lens dropdown in its details. Click the dropdown to pick a focal length. The picker is a flat list grouped by category and labeled by both the category name and the focal length.

The working set:

* **Ultra-Wide** – strong perspective distortion at the edges; great for vehicle interiors, action that puts the camera inside something.
* **24mm Wide** – establishing shots, environments where the surrounding context matters.
* **35mm Standard** – default for most shots. Documentary-feeling, broadly cinematic, doesn't impose a strong look.
* **50mm Standard** – approximates the human eye. Reads as natural; good for character moments and dialogue framings.
* **85mm Telephoto** – portrait. Compressed depth, isolated subject, soft background. Default reach for product hero shots and beauty framings.
* **Super Telephoto** – far compression, isolated subject. Good for sports-feeling action or framings at distance.

The lens selection is per-shot, so you can have a 24mm Wide establishing followed by an 85mm Telephoto reaction in the same scene without any global change.

## How the visualizer reads lens choice

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    A[Shot lens setting] --> B[Auto-prompt Scene Context]
    A --> C[3D viewport framing]
    B --> D[Diffusion model]
    C --> D
    D --> E[Render with appropriate optical character]
```

The auto-prompt's \[Scene Context] block mentions the focal length (e.g., *"24mm wide-angle establishing shot"*). The 3D viewport applies the equivalent perspective so what you see is what gets rendered. The model receives both: the geometric framing from the viewport and the descriptive language from the prompt.

{% hint style="info" %}
The wider you go, the more the visualizer leans into environmental detail. The longer you go, the more it leans into subject isolation and shallow-depth effects. If a render feels "too clean" or "too cluttered", lens choice is the first thing to revisit.
{% endhint %}

## Choosing the right lens

A few common signals:

* The subject feels small and lost in the frame – go longer.
* The environment is doing too much of the storytelling – go longer (or move the camera closer).
* The shot needs to feel "in the action" – go wider, get closer.
* The subject feels distorted at the edges in an unwanted way – go longer.
* A product hero is being upstaged by the background – go to 85mm Telephoto or Super Telephoto.

## Limits and known issues

* **The lens pack is fixed.** You can pick from a preset set of lenses, but you can't define custom focal lengths today.
* **Film-grade lens characteristics aren't simulated.** Anamorphic squeeze, lens flares, breathing – the visualizer doesn't model these per-lens. They show up if the model has been trained to produce them; ask for them in the prompt or via [style presets](/visualize/style-presets.md) if needed.
* **Aspect ratio is separate from focal length.** Switching from 35mm to 85mm doesn't change the gate. See [Aspect ratios and film gates](/compose/aspect-ratios-and-film-gates.md).

## Related

* [Shots](/compose/shots.md)
* [Aspect ratios and film gates](/compose/aspect-ratios-and-film-gates.md)
* [Camera controls](/compose/camera-controls.md)
* [Shot details](/compose/shot-details.md)


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