Modern Lens Design

Reviews / Votes

In this new edition of Smith's book, the focus has changed with the times. There are about half as many lens designs in the new edition, and the new material is directed toward design projects. Smith shows what he did, including blunders, to design a lens from first concept to final design. The designs include a cemented doublet, a triplet anastigmat, a Heliar, a Schmidt-Cassegrain, a landscape lens, and many more. The computer program OSLO was used to design the work, but the write-ups are program-neutral. Therefore, this book can be used with any lens design software. This book is a working person's text; there are very few derivations of techniques or derivations from first principles, Maxwell's equations, or Fermat's principle. The assumption is that the reader understands the basic optical principles and may have a command of the fundamentals of classical optical design methods. In short, a compendium of design techniques available today and a prescriptive resource for a variety of already designed lens types that can be starting points for a lens designer's efforts. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. -- D.B. Mason, Albright College Choice 20050601