How much does a custom lens cost?
A straightforward question, with no direct answer. The price of lenses depends on the design complexity, material, manufacturing process, and production series size. A mass-produced lens, made from injection-molded plastic at volume 500,000 units, could cost $0.20 per element. At the same time, a glass lens with one element made in a batch of ten […]
Advanced Apochromatic Lens Design for Exceptional Imaging Quality
In an achromatic lens design, we optimize such that two wavelengths, usually red (590nm) and blue (495nm), focus on the same image plane. This is done to reduce chromatic aberration. In this article, we’ll talk about a similar design type called an Apochromatic lens design. What is an apochromatic lens? The goal of the apochromatic […]
5 best materials for LED illumination optics
Freeform lenses (including TIR lenses) and lightpipes are the two most common types of LED illumination optics. They can be made using injection molding and are affordable. Glass materials are not common for general illumination, but are used for spherical lenses or aspheres in devices such as optical instruments with Abbe or Köhler illumination. In […]
Overview of Pi-Shapers, for beam shaping
The pi-Shaper, also known as the πShaper, is designed to transform Gaussian or similar intensity distributions of source laser beams into flat-top ones. This innovative technology has found applications in various industries due to its unique capabilities. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of pi-Shapers, explore their applications in industry, and touch upon their […]
Designing Stereo Lens Pairs
Stereo lens pairs are designed to capture two slightly offset images, mimicking the way our eyes perceive the world. When these images are combined and viewed with the appropriate technique, such as stereoscopy, they create a three-dimensional effect, adding depth and realism to photographs. The primary application of stereo lens pairs is, of course, 3D […]
Types of Optical Designs used for Rifle Scopes
When Autumm arrives hunting season isn’t far behind, which brings us to today’s optical design topic, the optics of a rifle scope. Hunting is so popular in my state that it is a non-official holiday where school is “canceled” and congress gets the day off. I’m not sure if that happens elsewhere but it is […]