Originally posted by Spock Yes, but the human eye only has one small spot on the retina (the
fovea) that allows pin sharp vision. The wide field of sharp vision you appear to have is an illusion. The fact is that peripheral vision is actually quite poor and the only reason our whole field of view appears sharp and clear is because our eyes are always darting around - 'drawing' a clear image with the fovea - that is then stitched together in the brain to form 'the big picture'.
Oh and the eye doesn't focus that quickly at all. Try this exercise in a dark(ish), large room: Bring your finger as close to your nose as you can focus on it. Then snap your focus back and forth from the finger to the distant wall. You may find it is not as fast as you thought - and not that much different to an autofocus camera.
Well, here we go...the numbers I stated for field of view are quite accurate, however, I did not mention anything about acuity through the whole field of vision. You are right about the fovea have the greatest acuity. This "stitching together" of the visual fields that you refer to is a function in of the tectum in the mid brain (superior colliculus), but is not a function of the angel of view.
Night vision is a function of rods in the retina and cones are for color. As for focus speed at night, let your rods adapt to the dark for about 20 minutes, the time it take to restore rhodopsin, then check you focus speed. But more importantly, focusing on you finger, then to a distant wall is "accommodation" and is a function of lens flexibility and its ability to change from concave to convex, which we lose as we get older (presbyopia).
I don't have to look up this info, because I teach it in undergraduate Neuroanatomy.