Camera Angle & Distance Planner
Where do you put the phone to fit a whole court, mat, or drill in frame? Enter the width you need and your lens, and get the exact distance to stand back, the mount height, and how sharp the footage will be.
Pick a sport to prefill the width you want to capture, or type your own. The planner uses your lens field of view to work out the shooting distance, suggests a tripod height that avoids foreshortening, and rates the detail you will get at your recording resolution.
Get on Google Play
Plan your camera placement
Get it on
Google Play
The geometry behind camera placement
Distance comes from field of view
Every lens captures a fixed cone of view, measured as a horizontal field of view angle. The width it can fit in frame grows with distance by a simple rule: width equals two times distance times the tangent of half the field of view. Rearranged, the distance you need to stand back is width divided by twice the tangent of half the angle. A phone main camera at roughly 67° fits about 1.3 m of width per metre of distance, so an 11 m tennis rally area needs you about 8 m back.
Wider lenses let you stand closer
The ultra-wide lens (around 100° on most phones) fits the same width from far less distance, useful in a cramped gym where you cannot back up. The trade-off is barrel distortion at the edges and softer detail, so straight lines bend and a player at the touchline looks stretched. Telephoto crops (2x, 3x, 5x) do the opposite: they need a lot more distance but put far more pixels on a single athlete, which is why they suit fixed long-range filming of one performer.
Height fights foreshortening
Filming from ground level makes near and far players overlap and hides footwork behind nearer bodies. A small amount of elevation separates them and reveals spacing. A workable rule is a mount height of about 12% of your shooting distance, kept between 1.4 m (a normal tripod) and 4 m (an elevated platform). Court sports from 8 m want head height; a full pitch from 40 m wants a raised stand.
Detail is pixels spread over width
Sharpness of a subject depends on how many horizontal pixels land on each metre of the scene: resolution width divided by capture width. Filming 12 m at 1080p (1920 px wide) gives 160 px/m, enough to read body position clearly. The same scene at 4K (3840 px) doubles that to 320 px/m, sharp enough to study a grip or hand angle. Narrowing the captured width has the same effect as raising resolution.
Reference: distance to fit common scenes (main 1x lens)
| Scene | Width to capture | Main lens (67°) | Ultra-wide (100°) | Detail at 1080p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single athlete | 3 m | 2.3 m | 1.3 m | 640 px/m |
| Combat mat / ring | 8 m | 6.0 m | 3.4 m | 240 px/m |
| Gymnastics floor | 12 m | 9.0 m | 5.0 m | 160 px/m |
| Tennis / padel rally | 11 m | 8.3 m | 4.6 m | 175 px/m |
| Basketball half court | 15 m | 11.3 m | 6.3 m | 128 px/m |
| Youth soccer drill | 20 m | 15.0 m | 8.4 m | 96 px/m |
| Full soccer pitch | 50 m | 37.6 m | 21.0 m | 38 px/m |
Distances assume a 67° horizontal field of view for the main lens and 100° for ultra-wide, typical for recent Android phones. Your exact angle varies by model; the planner above recalculates for any width and lens you choose.
How to use this planner
Choose your sport to prefill a sensible capture width, or select Custom and type the exact width in metres you want to keep in frame, including a little run-off at the edges.
Start with the main (1x) lens for the cleanest image. Switch to ultra-wide if the distance the planner returns is more than the space you actually have behind the action.
Place the tripod at the distance shown, at the suggested mount height, and frame so the captured width sits just inside the edges. Check the detail rating is high enough for what you want to review.
Once framed, let the camera run. For hands-free instant replay on your phone, ReplayR keeps a rolling buffer going and saves the last play on a tap or gesture, including fully offline use.
Placement scenarios by sport
Tennis & padel
To see both players and the full rally area (about 11 m), stand roughly 8 m back on the main lens, raised to head height. Shoot from behind the baseline or at the net post line for the clearest read on footwork and contact point.
Gymnastics floor
A 12 m floor needs about 9 m of distance on the main lens. If the gym wall is closer than that, switch to ultra-wide (around 5 m) and accept some edge distortion, or film one corner pass at a time with a tighter width.
Combat sports
An 8 m mat fits from about 6 m back on the main lens. Mount slightly elevated so grappling exchanges on the ground stay visible rather than collapsing into one mass of bodies at floor level.
Youth soccer drills
A 20 m drill zone needs about 15 m on the main lens, more space than many sidelines allow, so ultra-wide (about 8 m) is often the practical choice. Get as high as you safely can to keep player spacing readable.
Single-athlete technique
For a golf swing or a solo dancer, a 3 m width gives 640 px/m of detail at 1080p, plenty to study joint angles. Use a 2x or 3x crop if you must film from far away, since it concentrates pixels on the body.
Full-pitch tactical view
Filming 50 m of pitch needs roughly 38 m back, or 21 m on ultra-wide, and an elevated stand of 3 to 4 m. Detail drops to tactical-only at this width, so pair it with a closer second angle if you also want technique footage.
FAQ
How far should I put my phone to film a whole tennis court?
To capture about 11 m of width (a half court plus run-off) on a phone main camera with a 67° horizontal field of view, stand roughly 8 m back. With the ultra-wide lens (about 100°) you can drop that to around 4.6 m. The planner works this out from the exact width you enter, since distance equals width divided by twice the tangent of half the field of view.
What lens should I use to record sport on a phone?
The main (1x) lens is the right default for most coaching: least distortion, best low-light quality. Use the ultra-wide only when you cannot physically stand far enough back, since it stretches the edges and softens detail. Reach for a 2x or 3x crop when you film a single athlete from a fixed distant spot and want more pixels on their body.
How high should the camera be mounted on the sideline?
Slight elevation reduces the foreshortening that makes players overlap and hides footwork. A practical rule is about 12% of your shooting distance, clamped between 1.4 m and 4 m. Filming a court from 8 m back puts the ideal mount near chest-to-head height on a standard tripod; for a full pitch from 40 m you want an elevated platform of 3 to 4 m.
How do I know if the video will be detailed enough?
The detail figure is pixels per metre: horizontal resolution divided by the width you capture. Above 200 px/m you can read grip and hand detail, 100 to 200 px/m shows clear technique, 50 to 100 px/m is fine for positioning and tactics, and below 50 px/m is wide tactical context only. Raising resolution or narrowing the captured width both increase detail.
Is my data sent to a server when I use this calculator?
No. Every calculation runs in your browser with JavaScript and nothing is uploaded. Your last sport, width, lens, and resolution are saved in your browser's localStorage so the page remembers them next time, and you can clear them with the Reset button.
Related tools & guides
- Tool
Storage & Buffer Time Calculator
Max buffer run time and saved clips at your resolution and free storage.
- Tool
Battery Life Impact Estimator
How long the rolling buffer can run at your resolution before the battery dies.
- Guide
How to capture instant replay on the sideline
End-to-end workflow: mount, buffer, save in 8 steps.
- FAQ
ReplayR FAQ
Storage, battery, Wear OS, formats, privacy, all answered.
Framed it right? Now never miss the play.
Mount the phone where the planner says, then let ReplayR roll. Save the last 45s to 12min the moment something happens, by tap, watch, or open-palm gesture.
All apps on Google Play
