How do I Control the Camera View in Blender?

That wretched camera view just won’t seem to do what I want it to!

Question? Sometimes I press the camera view toggle key but no matter how many times I thump on it, it refuses to display the camera view. Answer: First of all, create a camera if it doesn’t already exist. (The most obvious dumbest suggestion is often the right one!):

Nothing will appear to happen, but if you look in the outliner panel you will see that a camera object has appeared:

Next, you want to look through the “viewfinder”. The first time you look through the camera “viewfinder” by pressing , you will probably see an object in your scene, surrounded by the edges of the camera “Viewfinder”. In the default scene with no other objects in it except a camera, a light and a cube, you will see this image:

If you scroll the mouse button the size of the viewfinder on the monitor will change.

If you click and drag the pan control : you will be able to move the entire viewfinder frame around.

However, that’s just about all you can do. To get out of the camera view and return to the standard viewport view, just press the middle (scroll wheel) button. Now you can change your viewpoint as usual. But if you return to the viewfinder view (by pressing ) you go back to that pre-set view. The camera acts like a real camera on a tripod. You can get up and walk around in the studio, but the camera and its view remain fixed in its position.

So how do we rotate and zoom the Blender Camera while looking through the viewfinder?

This is the point that frustrates every new Blender camera user. There is seemingly no way to make that camera act like a “proper” camera! I remember getting so frustrated I would wind up jumping between Camera view and Viewport view and then physically move the camera (with the key). I would toggle between different orthogonal views until I finally got approximately what I wanted to show in the viewfinder. Not a very efficient method!

It’s actually very simple when you know how …

Bring up the left hand viewport menu (Known as the “n” menu because you just press ) and select the View tab:

Now go into camera view and click the Lock – Camera to View checkbox:

Now you are able to change the zoom and view as you would when using a real camera.

But Watch out!

Just be careful to Uncheck this Lock camera to View checkbox before leaving the camera view (to leave camera view, press the middle scroll button), or the camera will still track your viewport views.

Tip:

If you open the camera view with and your scene is right out of the viewfinder area, press and your scene appears back in the middle of the viewfinder.