Lens Design Fundamentals

One has to get used to Kingslake's terminology. However then, you will find this book really great.I could find a lot of interesting notes and calculation which I do not find in other optics textbooks.

All ancien formulations to design objectives or optical components.It's ok for lessons of the history towards a new design way.If you love optic, buy it.

If one is after the detailed mathmatics of optical design, this is a good book.

Lens Design Fundamentals, Second Edition, is the most comprehensive treatise to be published on the subject of Lens Design. This book holds a unique place in the optics literature. It adds impressive building blocks to the foundation established by A. E. Conrady in "Applied Optics and Optical Design" and Rudolph Kingslake in "Lens Design Fundamentals, First Edition". Dr. R. Barry Johnson is a disciple of Conrady and Kingslake, and who has a deep background in lens design theory as a Professor of Optics and many years of experience as a practicioner in the real world of lens design. Thus, he is ideally suited to write an up-to-date edition of "Lens Design Fundamentals". This new edition has been extensively rewritten and expanded by about 50% in both text and figures.Dr. Johnson takes the reader from the work of the lens designer into ray tracing methods and First Order Optics. This is followed by three chapters on aberration theory which provide the foundation for the subsequent chapters which follow on the design of different types of lens systems that form the basis of most modern lenses, including zoom lenses. One entire chapter is devoted to the role of the Stop in lens design. Dr. Johnson also devotes a chapter to Mirror and Catadioptric Systems, an important class of optical system largely neglected in books on Optics. The final chapter is devoted to Automatic Lens Improvement Programs. In this treatise Dr. Johnson stresses the need for an understanding of lens design principles and aberration theory as a prerequisite to obtaining the best solutions from these optimization programs.The value of Lens Design Fundamentals, Second Edition, is increased immensely by the numerous examples presented throughout as well as by Designer Notes interspersed in each chapter. For its audience this treatise is intended for the beginner through each intermediate level of experience up to and including the expert lens designer. This book will be a very valuable addition to any bookshelf.

If you thumb through this bad boy, you'll notice that there's a lot of raytracing going on. Consequently, this is a great book from which to learn about raytracing, specifically the (y-nu) (or "ynu") paraxial method. I made the effort of setting up a ynu table in Excel and used the equations to trace chief and marginal rays with much success (along with first-order properties such as focal length, F/#, entrance/exit pupil position/radius, et cetera). I then used the computed data and generated a lens drawing with traced rays, all in Excel. A Delano (y-ybar) diagram was inserted next, followed by computation of the Seidel aberration coefficients. Use the book with Excel and you'll find it incredibly useful.In addition to the raytracing, Kingslake discusses chromatic aberration, primary spectrum and secondary spectrum in detail. Also writes about the Seidel aberrations and how to compute them, using various sample lenses.A great complement to "A History of the Photographic Lens" and "Optics in Photography," both of which are quite informative regarding lens types and principles.