Types of optical systems in a lens designer's toolbox (2020)

https://www.pencilofrays.com/lens-design-forms/

83•picture•8mo ago

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elikoga•8mo ago

Potentially relevant:

   Show HN: Torch Lens Maker – Differentiable Geometric Optics in PyTorch (63 days ago) 2025-03-21

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43435438

https://victorpoughon.github.io/torchlensmaker/

alexbock•8mo ago

If you want to play with any of these lens descriptions (or look at code for simulating them), I made a free and open source visual web UI for lens design. The default project when you visit it is a double gauss lens similar to the one shown in the article.

https://alexbock.github.io/open-optical-designer/

Rotundo•8mo ago

Took a look and I'm impressed how easy it is to use. Thanks for sharing this.

librasteve•8mo ago

amazing tool - thanks for sharing

cwmoore•8mo ago

Is there a framework or template base for these kind of (usually scientific) demonstration apps? It’s a common design language of inputs and output that I’ve seen in many pages, often self-explanatory. I like it.

alexbock•8mo ago

Thanks. I did not use any frameworks/libraries/dependencies for this project. It's vanilla JavaScript/HTML/CSS from scratch. The general concept of a spreadsheet-like data editor next to a visual view is a standard paradigm in commercial lens design software like Quadoa/OSLO/CODE V.

turnsout•8mo ago

I absolutely love this, and the development philosophy. Nice work!

joshvm•8mo ago

I always wanted to play with Optica for Mathematica. It seems like a problem that would lend itself really well to the Wolfram way of visual + functional programming. However I've never met anyone who uses it and while academics usually get Mathematica for free, the plugin is pricey.

https://www.opticasoft.com/tour

https://www.opticasoft.com/copy-of-lenslab

jazzyjackson•8mo ago

Hey thanks for posting this, I met Dr Barnhart and his slide-o-scope at Makerspace Urbana some 15 years ago now and was just trying to remember what his software did the other day. One of those synchronicities, glad to see it's still selling. Looks like there's a pared down hobbyist version for less than 200 bucks but can't tell if it's also a Wolfram plug-in or standalone modeling software; I'll have to send the old man an email

https://www.opticasoft.com/product-page/optica-em-for-experi...

NKosmatos•8mo ago

I remember playing around with a lenses and light sources simulator, but can’t find the link :-( If I’m not mistaken it was posted here on HN but couldn’t find it by searching with various related keywords. If anyone has it please share :-)

alexbock•8mo ago

I'm guessing you're referring to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39309409

NKosmatos•8mo ago

Thanks for this!!! My memory isn’t that good, and if you see I had commented in the previous post as well :-)

Xmd5a•8mo ago

>Who this guide is NOT for: [...] People that are okay with becoming a lens design zombie.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230914035459/https://caoyuan.s...

A $500 DIY near-IR spectrometer that would sell for $10,000, Yuan Cao

>The placement of the cylindrical lens (position & angle) affects the focal point for different wavelength. I did not do a rigorous calculation here —— I simply resorted to a trial-and-error method to figure out the optimal placement.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37498142

contingencies•8mo ago

If you like this sort of thing I highly recommend seeking out a hardcover copy of the last edition of a long-running book, View Camera Technique: 7th Edition. I found it exceptionally well illustrated and very interesting.

https://www.amazon.com/View-Camera-Technique-Leslie-Stroebel...

Somebody in Dongguan once introduced me to the Korean running the iPhone lens assembly production systems (it was outsourced; ~COVID). IIRC they had 13 lens elements at the time and each assembly was characterized and digitally corrected according to its specific optical characteristics. Fascinating guy to talk to over beer. He moved east after that, someplace near Shanghai IIRC.

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Types of optical systems in a lens designer's toolbox (2020)

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