Following the conversation with @MrBitstFlyer on the topic of field of view (FoV) in another unrelated thread, I was asked to start a separate thread to share my method for setting up FoV in MSFS.

While it may not be as important as in racing sims, I think that using a more realistic FoV is a real benefit for flight sims as well. With the right FoV, you get the most correct sense of speed, object size, distance judgement and no perspective distortion. Which not only helps when landing, but it improves the overall immersion by making everything looking more true to life. 

If you are used to the default FoV set by Asobo or other aircraft developers, you may find your realistic FoV difficult to use, especially on smaller screens. No matter, you don't have to use the most realistic setting to get a noticeable improvement over the default FoV setting. In the end, use what feels right to you. As long as it's at least somewhat close to your actual FoV, it's fine.

How to:

Asobo doesn't offer a most straightforward way to find and set the correct FoV in its camera settings, fortunately there are other tools.

1)     How to determine your realistic FoV

• Open Modern FOV Calculator
• Complete all fields in the “Input” section.
• Find the value of your vertical FoV (vFov) in the "Result" section.

2)     How to set the FoV for a specific aircraft

• First, few rules here:
• To change the FoV, use "Zoom level" in Camera Panel (toolbar menu).
• Zoom level by itself does mean nothing, because its value is always relative. If two aircraft have different base FoV in the default camera views, the default Zoom level will always be the same - a value of 50, regardless of the actual FoV used for that camera view.
• After you change the Zoom level and save the corresponding camera view, the Zoom level will reset back to 50, but the FoV value will remain changed.
   
• Load up an aircraft.
   
• Turn on “Developer Mode” in Settings > Advanced Options > Developer Mode.
   
• From the Developer Mode top menu, select Debug > Aircraft > Camera Blend.
   
• Your screen will get overlaid with a jumble of information. Under "Camera Infos" overlay (at least in MSFS 2024) you can find the vertical “Fov” value of the currently used camera view. It is expressed in radians. If you multiply this value by cca 57.3, you get the vertical FoV of the currently used camera view in degrees.
   
• Now, simply divide the realistic FoV value you found in the first step by 57,3 and increase (or decrease) the Zoom level in the Camera Panel until the “Fov” value displayed on screen matches.
   
• If too close to windshield, translate your camera view eye point backwards (in MSFS 2024, Shift + WASD, use mouse freelook to rotate), to see the flight displays/gauges better. For fine tuning, lower the “Freelook Speed” slider.
   
• Use VFR Pilot View Save function (Ctrl+F10) to save your adjusted camera view. Or Ctrl+F9 for IFR Pilot, or Ctrl+F11 for Landing Pilot. The settings will be saved separately for each aircraft.

Edited April 20, 20251 yr by Ohmsquare

@Moderators Can we pin this in tips and tricks?

This is actually very good as im about to make a home cockpit and was wondering about the correct fov.. appreciate the clear and simple explanation!

 

5 minutes ago, psolk said:

@Moderators Can we pin this in tips and tricks?

Yes please, one of the most valuable posts concerning Field Of view.  I had no idea each aircraft has its own base FOV, meaning a single calculated FOV is not correct for all aircraft in the sim.  This method makes sure the FOV is consistent across all aircraft.

4 hours ago, Ohmsquare said:

Use VFR Pilot View Save function (Ctrl+F10) to save your adjusted camera view. Or Ctrl+F9 for IFR Pilot, or Ctrl+F11 for Landing Pilot. The settings will be saved separately for each aircraft.

I am having trouble with this part.  When I click Ctrl+F10 My view zooms right in over the top of the instrument panel.  I have checked that key combination is mapped to 'VFR pilot View Save'!

Does it matter if my world scale is set to 120?

6 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I am having trouble with this part.  When I click Ctrl+F10 My view zooms right in over the top of the instrument panel.  I have checked that key combination is mapped to 'VFR pilot View Save'!

Yes, that does happen. Still, the new camera view has been saved correctly - try using "Reset Cockpit View" function and the view should reset to what you wanted. I'll add this information to that guide along with the information on in which files are the custom camera settings saved.

EDIT: Since it is no longer possible to edit the original post:

• The custom camera view settings for VFR/IFR/Landing Pilot views are saved in a camera.cfg file. In the case of MSFS 2024, this file is located in the following folder: [PATH]\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes

Edited April 21, 20251 yr by Ohmsquare

5 hours ago, vonduck said:

Does it matter if my world scale is set to 120?

If I'm not mistaken, you're referring to a VR feature. However, this guide is for 2D only.

Excellent guide, very useful and clear. @Moderators, Tips and Tricks, please.

Very interesting, showed that my FOV was way off and had to zoom in much more. Only drawback is now that scenery looking much blurrier due to the extra zoom, but really feel it makes a positive difference in terms of sense of speed so will keep it regardless!

6 hours ago, Ohmsquare said:

Yes, that does happen. Still, the new camera view has been saved correctly - try using "Reset Cockpit View" function and the view should reset to what you wanted. I'll add this information to that guide along with the information on in which files are the custom camera settings saved.

EDIT: Since it is no longer possible to edit the original post:

• The custom camera view settings for VFR/IFR/Landing Pilot views are saved in a camera.cfg file. In the case of MSFS 2024, this file is located in the following folder: [PATH]\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes

This is strange.  I confirm I have VFR Pilot View Save function set to (Ctrl+F10).  I have the reset VFR Pilot view to (Alt+F10).  There are no conflicts with other key commands.

I follow the guide to set the correct zoom, move the camera to a good position, then press Ctrl+F10.  The view immediately zooms in over the top of the instrument panel.  I then press Alt+F10 but the view doesn't change to what I set.

3 minutes ago, AlexMD11 said:

Only drawback is now that scenery looking much blurrier due to the extra zoom

Maybe you got used to a zoomed out view, because no way is the scenery blurry at an accurate FOV.

27 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

This is strange.  I confirm I have VFR Pilot View Save function set to (Ctrl+F10).  I have the reset VFR Pilot view to (Alt+F10).  There are no conflicts with other key commands.

I follow the guide to set the correct zoom, move the camera to a good position, then press Ctrl+F10.  The view immediately zooms in over the top of the instrument panel.  I then press Alt+F10 but the view doesn't change to what I set.

Oh, probably a mix-up.

By referring to the "Reset Cockpit View" function, I meant the function called either "Reset Cockpit View" or "Camera Reset" which temporarily re-centers the current view. I believe the default keyboard command is Shift + spacebar in MSFS2024.

You are not supposed to use the "VFR Pilot View Reset" function (Shift+F10 originally) unless you want to delete your saved custom VFR Pilot view and return to the default VFR Pilot view set by the developer.  

 

Edited April 21, 20251 yr by Ohmsquare

20 hours ago, Ohmsquare said:

Use VFR Pilot View Save function (Ctrl+F10) to save your adjusted camera view. Or Ctrl+F9 for IFR Pilot, or Ctrl+F11 for Landing Pilot. The settings will be saved separately for each aircraft.

I'm a bit lost at this step as well.  Fairly pleased my calculations prior to your post  and what I was running on my 49 ultrawide came out to be exactly the same as your method.  

Once I've got the view setup however,  I use: ctrl+alt+0-9 to save the view and the alt+0-9 to recall the view. 

What is difference between that and IFR Pilot CTRL+F9 or Landing PIlot CTRL+F11?  

Thank you!

Edited April 21, 20251 yr by psolk

9 hours ago, Ohmsquare said:

If I'm not mistaken, you're referring to a VR feature. However, this guide is for 2D only.

AH yes, my bad sorry!