Science for the Curious Photographer, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 8 How to Make Lenses that Are Good Enough for Photography

 

 

Nevertheless, it remains true that the lens is generally the most expensive and least understood part of any camera.

—RUDOLF KINGSLAke

Every defect and aberration that a lens has will be revealed in an astrophoto. These include spherical aberrations, chromatic aberrations, coma, astigmatism, curvature of field, and vignetting.

—JERRY LODRIGUSS

 

 

 

8.1 Introduction

After photography was invented in 1839, there was a pressing need for lenses that could produce sharp, undistorted images with wide fields of view. The need was much less obvious when objects were viewed through the center of telescopic lenses and artists squinted at faint images on ground glass in a camera ...