Photography Stack Exchange
Photography Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [optics]

Optics is the science of light, and in photography often refers more specifically to to the properties and construction of lenses or the technical aspects of light sensors.

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What is the "Circle of Confusion?"

I know that when I want to calculate Depth of Field by hand one of the variable elements in that equation is the Circle of Confusion. In layman's terms, what is the "Circle of Confusion," how do I calculate it, and is there any other ways that it…
Jay Lance Photography
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Is this a Fata Morgana?

I took this photo. Above the horizon there is a thick line that looks like a cloud, but it surely isn't. Is this a Fata Morgana? What do you think? The Image
Andrey S
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What are these vertical light lines on pictures taken with my smartphone?

We are back from holidays and we notice many photos with strange vertical lines, see photos below. Can someone explain this optical effect to me, please? How can I avoid it in future? The pictures were taken with a smartphone (Motorola Moto G5…
IPV3001
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Projecting image on camera

I have an optical system that forms an image at various distances (25cm range) as shown in the figure here: What kind of optics is required to project this image onto a CCD camera but without having to adjust the focus?
user102753
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What function does C1, C2, and Off mean on Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 Sports lens?

I am using a Sigma f/2.8 120-300mm lens. How does the C1 and C2 affect pictures? Also, what about the Off, 1, and 2 switch on the OS feature?
Randy Coffman
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Design and Fabricating My Own Lens

I have a small business (just me) selling an inspection machine. The camera and lens work well, but I've had to print my own camera mount to get the lens further away from the CCD to get a good focus. The depth of field is extremely narrow, and I…
user2926110
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Where do rays of light from one point strike the film?

I am a programmer and I am doing a camera simulation, I am stuck in a matter of how to know where does every ray of light incident after traveling through the lens, every point of the object will give infinity number of rays. In my simulation, I…
user3159060
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DOF of line scan camera & lens

I came across this method of calculating the DOF that involves pre-calculating the camera CoC. The same method can be used for lineScan cameras? What is the Coc of 16K linescan camera (Cmos Sensor 4x 16384 Pixels, 5 x 5μm) ?
user114164
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Calculating bellows factor (etc) when using a magnifier lens

The bellows extension formula takes the focal length and draw as input and produces an exposure compensation as an output. A Nikon 4T magnifier is a -2.9 diopter lens. Sticking it on the front would seem to produce, then, a ~184mm lens. However,…
bmargulies
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Determining fstop when designing a camera?

I am designing a camera for a project. How do I determine its fstop number if I am designing it? The equation I have is: fstop=f/D where f is the focal length and D is the aperture diameter. I have calculated my pixel size for the detector and the…
SS1
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Do these Camera parameters make sense?

I need to pick a Camera to see a target at ~5km. Visible Spectrum Pixel size 5 microns (guessed). Range 5000m Target height 2m IFOV = 0.125 m so I get 16 pixels on the target at 5000 m. Focal Length = PixelSize/IFOV*Range = 0.2 m
SS1
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Identifying and replacing a lens of a 360° Giroptic camera (360cam)

I broke a lens of a Giroptic 360cam. It is discontinued by the manufacturer and even the company does not exist anymore. Here is a link from the internet archive. All the tech specs I found is those: 3x 185°, F/1.8 Is this enough to get a…
Alex
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Point two cameras through the same lens, with the same perspective

I had an idea recently, that would involve two separate cameras, capturing at the same time, with the exact same perspective- Which I mean as, 1:1 the EXACT same perspective, as if both of the cameras were simultaneously in the same spacial…
Ben Franchuk
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Lenses round ..Photographs square shaped why?

If camera lenses are round then why is the photograph taken by the camera is square-shaped? photography
user38959
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Optical focal length

i have a quick question. We have a machine which has a camera mounted above a board at 75cm. The cameras ability to focus on an object at 0 zoom is 1cm, and all full zoom 120cm. The zoom is build into the camera and i have no idea what optic is on…
Colm Clarke
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