10 suppliers of off-the-shelf lenses

10 suppliers of off-the-shelf lenses

In certain projects, the best lens design choice is not to design. While high volume production costs savings for a custom design are considerable, there are times when delivery time requirements don’t permit the use of a custom design, or when an existing lens used in high volume for a different application can be re-purposed. […]

Questions and Answers optical resolution

optical resolution

In the world of imaging and optics, achieving clarity and precision is paramount. Whether it’s for quality control, machine vision, or barcode reading, understanding the intricacies of image resolution plays a vital role in ensuring the success of various applications. In this blog post, we delve into an insightful email exchange between us and one […]

How to Reverse Engineer a Lens.

reverse engineer a lens

Can You Reverse Engineer a Lens Custom-Made? This is a question we get from time to time and the short answer is usually ‘no’. There are vendors who can provide this, but in our experience, it really hasn’t been worth the effort. While you could measure each lens element and get its radius, you need […]

Difficulty of optical requirements for roadway lighting, ranked

optical requirements for roadway lighting, ranked

All roadway lamps must be designed according to specific standards. The most popular ones are a US standard called “IESNA RP 8-00 Roadway lightning” and a European one called “CIE 140-2000 Road lighting calculations”. In the case of CIE 140-2000, the standard only specifies parameter definitions, calculations, and measuring technique, while the actual parameter values […]

Infrared and thermal imaging design

Infrared and thermal imaging design

In the coming weeks, we will be posting about the unique design considerations and material requirements for infrared optical systems. In this post, we will focus on the definitions optical engineers use. Infrared radiation includes electromagnetic waves with 0.75-1000 µm wavelength band. This spectral region is divided into five intervals: Thermal imaging IR-radiation has a […]