Why doesn't aperture affect field of view?

With sincere respect to "retiredPhil", his answer is correct unto itself, but it is not the correct answer to your question. I cannot answer this, though the same thought has occurred to me in the past. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for this, but I will not try to give an answer that would be nothing but conjecture. If you want to really be amazed, try using a pinhole camera! It will still give a field of view as large as what ever size film you have in the camera! steve

Well, aperture absolutely does affect the field of view. What you may not understand is that most cameras show you a view with the aperture wide open. The camera closes the aperture when it takes the pic.

It's an interesting question. FOV has to do with sensor size and focal length. Interesting to think that a telescope with a huge opening will have far less FOV than a pinhole.

>> If I look through a small hole, surely I will see a smaller field of view than if I look through a large, wide opening, << If you look at it that way, it would appear that the size of the aperture would have an effect on the field of view. But, if you look at how your eyes actually operate, ask yourself this. If you are in a dimly lit room, and you walk outside into a bright sunny day....is your field of view smaller when you go outside? Of course not. But, when you walk into the brightly lit sunny day, your pupils get much smaller to compensate for the additional light passing to your retina.