Greetings
Any suggestions on a book on lens design/theory for LF users. I am looking for something below a true textbook, but above a primer. I found a couple of pages on the web, but I prefer a book to reading my computer screen.
Eric
Greetings
Any suggestions on a book on lens design/theory for LF users. I am looking for something below a true textbook, but above a primer. I found a couple of pages on the web, but I prefer a book to reading my computer screen.
Eric
Dad, why is the lens cap on?
Hi Eric,
look up the books that Rudolph Kingslake wrote. He was Kodak's lens guru. His writings are considered to be the "bibles" of lens design.
Search Rudolf Kingslake on Amazon (he was head of the optical department at Kodak for many years). I can recommend "A History of the Photographic Lens", "Lens Design Fundamentals", and "Optics in Photography". "Applied Optics and Optical Design" is a very mathematical text.
All of Kingslake's books are excellent and I too recommendn them to you. OTOH you say "less than a textbook" and I am not sure exactly what depth you are looking for. Lens design and optical theory i snot a subject into which you can delve very deeply without some understanding of optics and a fair knowledge of advanced math. Take a look at Kingslake's books in a libarary but if that is too much then take a look at what i soffered in an encyclopedia (I recommend Britannica).
I forgot! There is or used to be a book called "The Way Things Work" which will likely have a solidi and fairly non-technical discussion.
Most of the Kingslake books have been mentioned and are good. The "History of the Photographic Lens" is the easiest to read and might be the best start. Another book to consider is Sidney F. Ray: Applied Photographic Optics. That would be something to get through the library as it is quite expensive ($140 at Amazon). It does not go into lens design in detail but covers all the different lens types (not only for LF), other optics (viewfinderes etc.) and the basics.
And if you really want to get into it, check for Warren J. Smith: "Modern Optical Engineering" (the basics) and "Modern Lens Design: A resource manual" (lots of design data). Some of the older, out-of-print books are also worth considering like Arthur Cox's "Photographic Optics".
FYI, I ordered "A History of the Photographic Lens" from Amazon in mid-January. I'm still waiting on it. I've been receiving a "Your order has been delayed." message pretty much every week for the past month.
Chris
Skokie public library has Kingslake's "Lens Design Fundamentals", which I browsed one day as it showed the formulas, schematics, and some theory behind the Protar, Dialyte, etc, designs, including the choice of refractive index for the glass, etc. The old Ignalls "Amateur Telescope Making" books also had some information on lens designs, though related mainly to eyepieces and refractor telescopes (which could be thought of as a two-element design in really long barrel, on this forum)
Also consider Sidney Ray's "Applied photographic optics", published by Focal Press. I think there is a third edition out now. A bit dense, with a bunch of math in there, but lots of great general info.
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