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This new technology makes f/1.4 lenses at almost zero cost

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Researchers at Technion Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new way of making lenses with a curable liquid polymer that allows for faster prototyping of new and custom optics. It’s designed primarily for applications such as corrective lenses, augmented and virtual reality, medical imaging and astronomy, but could potentially become a new manufacturing method (or at least allow faster development) of photographic lenses.

According to a press release, the researchers began to develop the new method after realising that there were around 2.5 billion people around the planet who don’t have access to corrective eyewear. Their goal was to create “a simple method for fabricating high-quality optical components that does not rely on mechanical processing or complex and expensive infrastructure”.

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Cloning lens elements using silicone and epoxy resin

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I’ve been following the YouTube channel Breaking Taps for quite a long time. It’s a fun mix of science, engineering and technology covering physics and the occasional bit of chemistry with some just flat out cool experiments, crazy tech and fascinating slow motion in between – like that time when he made his own scanning laser microscope (it’s pretty cool, you should watch it).

Well, now he’s having a go at making some optical lens elements. And it turns out, making lenses from epoxy resin is a bit more difficult than one might initially think.

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Lens compression is absolute nonsense – It doesn’t exist, and here’s why

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This post will probably upset a few of you. Don’t care. Lens compression is a myth, I’ve been saying it for years, but when I try to explain why, peoples’ eyes start to glaze over. This video from Dave McKeegan, however, explains and demonstrates the principle wonderfully. Although, as Dave says, it really doesn’t matter.

Dave does go very in-depth into explaining the technical side of why lens compression doesn’t really exist, and if you’re not technically minded in the least, you’ll probably want to watch some parts of the video two or three times to fully understand what the demonstrations… uh, demonstrate. But it’s worth sticking with it. The better you know the principles, the better you’ll be able to use your gear.

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Best Photoshop Plugin? DIYP Reviews Boris FX Optics

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Boris FX is a company that has established itself in the filmmaking world by providing staggering VFX and DFT(digital film tools) to major productions. Their products are used on a large portion of Hollywood movie productions, Lion King is one of them. So, when a filmmaking company released a product for photographers, I got excited. The two verticals benefit from shared experience, and I was intrigued. Taking the best from the VFX and DFX worlds, they created Optics, which is a Photoshop and Lightroom plugin aimed at stills photographers. I took Optics for a spin with real images, real photographers, and real situations. Here’s what I have to say:[Read More…]

This simple blackboard model explains how a Fresnel lens works

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Fresnel lenses are found in all kinds of things from the lenses and light modifiers we use in photography and filmmaking to lighthouses that guide ships at sea. The lens was developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, after whom it was named, specifically for use in lighthouses. It allows for the construction of huge aperture and short focal length lenses but using less material than more traditional lens optics.

How exactly do they work, though? In the video above, David Willey explains how a Fresnel lens functions and why it is the shape that it is using a simple blackboard model and some magnetic strips. But essentially, Fresnel lenses are just regular lenses with big chunks taken out of them.

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These flat metalenses could revolutionize photography

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Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a revolutionary lens. It’s flat instead of curved, and it focuses the entire visible spectrum and white light in a single point. So far, this was only possible by stacking multiple lenses. But with this new invention, it’s possible to do it with a single lens. This discovery is interesting for us because it could revolutionize photography. If the commercial development starts, metalenses could make the gear far less bulky in the future.

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SLR Magic Unveils 3 new anamorphic cine lenses that can easily swap mounts

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SLR Magic has announced a brand new set of anamorphic cinema lenses. Known for manufacturing affordable optics for filmmakers, SLR Magic’s new ANAMORPHOT-CINE lens lineup is comprised of a 35mm T/2.4, the 50mm T/2.8 and the 70mm T/4, all of which are built on the PL mount, but can be adjusted for Canon EF, Micro Four Thirds, Sony E-mount and Nikon F lens mounts.[Read More…]

Everything You Need To Know About Depth of Focus and Lens Equivalency

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After learning about the history and science of lenses, and gaining some knowledge about the properties of modern lenses, it’s time to take a deeper look at depths of field and how it’s affected by sensor size.

Kick back as John Hess of Filmmaker IQ takes us on a 17-minute long journey through the optics, the terms and the calculations that will help you understand how depth of field works once and for all.

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Special Optics Allow Us (And Our Cameras) To See Air Flow With The Naked Eye

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This is pretty awesome. Scientists at Harvard Science Demonstrations put out a video earlier this year that let’s us see air moving with our naked eye. The team assembled some Schlieren optics (which we’ve talked about before) by reflecting a light source from a concave mirror onto a razor blade. The optics are setup in front of a camera to record as they demonstrate the process with a hair dryer, an air filled helium balloon, and a big glass full of sulfur hexafluoride gas. You can get a preview of the setup in the image above, but be sure to watch the video for the full effect, especially if you’re not familiar with Schlieren. [Read More…]

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