CHAPTER FOUR: THE LENS AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

The lens is the eye of a camera. The lens is responsible in forming a sharp image of an
object since they are medium in which reflected light coming from the subject is focus on the
film. A lens is defined by Redsicker as the camera's light-gathering device consisting of one or
more glass elements. Miller defined it as a piece of glass that is bounded by two spherical
surfaces, or a plane and a spherical surface. Langford defined it as an optical device made of
glass or plastic capable of bending light.
The primary function of lens is to focus the light passing through to form a sharp image.
Without the lens, the human eye cannot distinguish objects and so does a camera. Without the
lens, we can only see blurred image of light, without any form.

Types of Lens

1. Converging or Positive Lens

This type of lens is thicker in the middle than at the sides. When parallel rays of light
pass through this type of lens, they are bent inward and meet at a point called the "focus." A
converging lens has three types:

2. Diverging or Negative Lens

Diverging lenses are thicker at the edges than they are at the center. Light rays passing
through a diverging lens are bent outward. There are three type of diverging lens:

Types of Lenses According to Defect

Aberration refers to the inability of a lens to produce a true image.

1. Chromatic Aberration is a kind of aberration wherein the lens lacks the ability to focus
all colors on the same plane. As a result, there is no single plane or distance where all colors
come to a focus.

This handouts are intended for purely academic and scholarly purposes.
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 CHAPTER FOUR: THE LENS AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

2. Spherical Aberration is a kind of aberration wherein the rays of light through the center
of the lens come to a focus at a point farther away than the rays from the outer edges of the lens.
3. Curvilinear Distortion is the kind of aberration wherein straight lines near the edges of
the image are produced as curves. The location of the diaphragm determines the location of the
curves.
4. Coma Aberration is a sort of spherical aberration wherein the rays of the light reaching
the lens is from an angle. In this case, the rays below the axis are refracted more sharply than
those above the axis. Therefore, the focal points do not meet at a single point but in a series of
points. A lens that is not corrected for coma will cause bright points of light produced as cone-
shaped blurs pointed towards the center of the picture.
5. Astigmatism is the inability of the lens to focus vertical and horizontal lines of different
direction on the same plane. If a subject having both vertical and horizontal lines is focused, it
will be impossible to focus them both sharply.

Types of Lenses According to Correction

1. Meniscus Lens- a single crescent-shaped glass or plastic lens usually found in the
cheapest box camera. This lens has a noticeable amount of each of the major lens defects. This
lens is virtually useless with large lens opening.
2. Achromatic Lens- a lens which is corrected for spherical and chromatic aberrations by
putting together two lens of different kinds of glass having the proper curvatures.
3. Rapid Rectilinear Lens- a type of lens that is free from defect known as distortion but
were not corrected from astigmatism.
4. Anastigmat Lens- a lens corrected for astigmatism as well as for other lens defects.
5. Apochromatic Lens- a lens, which is corrected for all major defect, especially as far as
chromatic aberration is concern.

Lens Properties

Focal Length refers to the distance from the imaginary point in the lens known as the second
nodal point to the point at which parallel rays are brought to a focus. Aquino defined it as the
distance measured from the optical center of the lens to the film plane when the lens is set at
infinity position. Miller stated that focal length is the distance between the center of the lens and
the point at which the image of a distance object comes into critical view. Redsicker explained it
as the distance from the center of the lens to the point where image comes into critical view.
In other words we can simple say that the focal length of any lens is the distance between
the film and the lens when focus at infinity. The focal length of the lens determines the size of
the image it produces from any given distance. For distant objects, the size of an image produce
by any lens is proportional to its focal length.
For example, if you compare the image produced by a 6 inches lens with that produced
by a 3 inches lens, you will see that the 6 inches lens image is twice as high and twice as wide, so
that it covers four times the area of the image produced by the 3 inches lens.
The focal length of a lens may be given in inches or millimeter (there are approximately
25 mm per 1 inch)
Classification of Lenses according to Focal Length

1. Wide Angle Lens- a lens that has a focal length less than the diagonal or longest side of
its negative.
2. Normal Lens- a lens which has a focal length approximately equal to but not more than
twice the diagonal or longest side of its negative
3. Telephoto Lens- a lens that has a focal length more than twice the diagonal or longest
side of its negative.

Depth of Focus is the maximum permissible distance within which the film may be placed
without exceeding the circle of confusion in order to produce the image sharp. Another definition
states that depth of focus is the distance the bellows can be extended or shortened and still
maintaining acceptable focus.
Focusing the camera is done by adjusting the position of the lens by a back and forth
movement until a sharp image of the object appears in the viewfinder. The most basic focusing
system uses a subject distance scale. Setting appears on a focusing ring around the lens and
sometimes inside the viewfinder.

This handouts are intended for purely academic and scholarly purposes.
All rights reserved (C) Hazel Asoy 2020
 CHAPTER FOUR: THE LENS AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

Lens Speed should not be confused with shutter speed. Lens speed indicates the relative
aperture. The relative aperture is the light gathering power of a lens equal to the ration of the
focal length to the diameter of its lens pupil.
In other words, to indicate the speed of any lens (f-number), you need to mention only
two things:
 Focal length of the lens and
 Diameter of the lens opening.

The f-number is simply a ratio between the focal length and the diameter of the lens
opening and is obtained by using the formula: f-number is equal to focal length divided by
diameter of lens.
Ex: we use a lens with a focal length of 8" and with a diaphragm opening of 1"
= has a lens speed of f8 (following our formula.
So does a 4" lens with a diaphragm opening of ½ have a lens speed of f8
What is important to note is that we have two types of lens but have the same lens speed
and same exposure time. But going back to our discussion on focal length, the 8" lens has an
image size twice as high and twice as wide as 4" lens.

NOTE: The bigger the lens opening, the faster the lens speed. The smaller the lens opening, the
slower the lens speed.

Lens Speed has two types: a fast lens and a slow lens. The distinction is made with
reference to the f/number. A typical fast lens has f/stop of about f/4 and bigger while a slow lens
has a f/stop of about f/4.5 and smaller. In police work the best lens should be a fast lens since it
can gather more light in adverse condition than a slow lens.

Depth of Field refers to a zone of focus that is, the area between the closest and farthest objects
that will appear sharply focused in the photograph. The area from the foreground to the
background is your depth of field.

Factors that Affect Depth of Field

Lens Aperture the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field.
Focal length of the lens the longer the focal length, the shallower the depth of field.
Distance of object from the lens the greater the distance, the greater the depth of field.

This handouts are intended for purely academic and scholarly purposes.
All rights reserved (C) Hazel Asoy 2020