lens - How to capture the scene exactly as my eyes can see?

What settings of my DSLR camera will emulate the scene exactly as I can see through my naked eyes?

I think it's not possible to get the contrast and colors exactly as my eyes can see, and it may vary from person to person. So, I am more interested in focal length of the lens. If anyone can give more insight beyond focal length, I will be glad to know.

For example, if I am standing on the seashore and want to capture the sunrise, what should be the focal length so that I can cover the angle of view which my eyes can see, and so the size of the objects in the photo will be precisely like my eyes perceive it?

My camera is an APS-C Canon EOS 1000D. I have 50mm 1.8 and 70-300mm Sigma , Can it be achieved through this equipment lens? Till now, I have not achieved or been satisfied with what I see and what I get.

Answer

Well, I hate to break it to you, but you can't exactly emulate your eyes. There's a few reasons, let me explain.

1. Humans see much higher resolution in the central fovia (center part of our eyes) than near the edges. Cameras have uniform resolution everywhere.


2. The dynamic range is handled differently between cameras and humans. I can't explain it, but a scene appears to have more dynamic range to a human than a camera, although technically a camera has more dynamic range.


3. Humans see in 3 dimensions.


4. Humans change their focal points very quickly, to the point that we don't actually notice the out of focus portions of most scenes.



5. The shape of human vision is very different than a photograph. Photographs come out rectangular typically, with some dimension, human vision is more of a curved shape, although it is difficult to quantify by the way our brain manages the signals.

Notwithstanding all of that, let me just say that it depends if you are wanting to focus on a specific area, or on the larger scene around. If you want the specific area, you probably should go about 150mm or so. As for a dramatic landscape, something more like a 24 will get your entire field of view. A commonly cited number is 50mm, which will let you see the higher resolution portion of your eyes and then some, but not the entire field, and is usually a good compromise. (All of these assume you have a full framed camera, if yours is a crop sensor, please divide by the appropriate factor)