Framing charts aren’t particularly exciting, but they’re one of the more useful tools you can have on hand during camera prep. At Duclos Lenses, we produce high-quality, purpose-built focus, distortion, and framing charts for professional use. They’re designed, printed, and finished in-house to be consistent and reliable across repeated tests. But that process takes time and attention to detail. There’s design, printing, curing, prep, etc. …none of it is instant. And occasionally, a project comes up where you just need something now. Duclos FrameGen started as a way to fill that gap.
What a framing chart actually does
A framing chart is simply a visual reference that shows how your capture format translates to your intended delivery format with a particular lens and camera combination. That becomes especially useful when you’re working with larger sensors, open gate modes, or multiple aspect ratios. It allows you to quickly see what portion of the image is being used, what’s being cropped, and how your composition will land in the final frame. It’s not doing anything particularly complex. It just makes those relationships visible in a way that’s easy to reference on set or during prep.
What Duclos FrameGen is
Duclos FrameGen is a free, browser-based tool that generates a clean framing chart based on a few inputs. You enter your sensor format, your delivery aspect ratio, and optionally a safety area or some basic project details, and it outputs a formatted chart ready to print. The goal wasn’t to build something overly flexible or feature-heavy. It was to make something quick and consistent that removes the need to build these charts manually every time. You can generate a chart, download it as a standard 8.5” × 11” PDF, and have something usable within a few seconds.
How it’s meant to be used
In practice, this is the kind of tool you use when you’re prepping for a test, setting up a camera package, or just trying to get everyone aligned on framing. You generate the chart, print it (or pull it up on a display), and use it as a reference while framing. It helps establish boundaries and gives you a shared point of reference across departments. That’s really all it’s intended to do.
Limitations
Because of how it’s built, Duclos FrameGen is intentionally limited. The output is sized for standard printing, and while it’s clean and consistent, it’s not designed for precision measurement. Personal printer quality will vary, scaling can introduce inconsistencies, and it doesn’t account for the kinds of tolerances you’d expect in a controlled testing environment. It’s a practical reference tool, not a calibration tool. Because it’s limited to an 8.5 x 11 in. printout, it becomes a little less useful for ultra wide angle lenses. In order to fill the frame with the chart, you’d need to have it positioned very close to the camera which isn’t a typical focus distance. This is where a larger, more professional chart from Duclos Lenses comes in handy.
When you need something more precise
If you’re doing more rigorous testing, especially anything that needs to be repeatable or comparable across lenses or systems, you’ll want something purpose-built. That’s where the Duclos charts come in. Our focus, distortion, and framing charts are produced specifically for optical evaluation, with higher print fidelity and consistent manufacturing.
Duclos FrameGen isn’t meant to replace those. It’s simply a faster option when time or access is limited.
Try it
Give the tool a try and share it with your friends and colleagues: https://duclos.tv/framegen/
This started as an internal solution to a pretty common problem, and it’ll likely continue to evolve. If you end up using it and have thoughts, feel free to reach out or leave a comment below so that we can improve the tool for everyone!