Further, we see too many clients skimp on the lens, saving tens of dollars, yet making their development harder than it should be!

If you are not getting a good picture into the camera, everything is going downhill from there on.

So how do you know which lens you should purchase? Here is a brief synopsis, call us for more details.

Security Lenses
If you are not trying to measure anything, and just want a good picture, if you don't care if the lens body and lens itself can be plastic, there is a huge number of security lenses. These are the type of lenses you see on the camera at the ATM machine, or in a store. We do not list all of these lenses since they are constantly changing, and are too numerous to list. Prices are between $30 to $100 for fixed focal lengths. There is also a huge variety of varifocal and zoom lenses.

Machine Vision Lenses
These lenses are designed for industrial environments, and are usually made with a metal body and a glass lens. They also have locking screws on the iris and focus to keep adjustments set in harsher environments. We find little optical difference between manufacturers, but each manufacturer has its own set of features.

Click stops on the iris ring are preferred by users who need to make adjustments or replacements in the field by service personnel. They can specify the technician to turn the lens 3 clicks, and lock it down. However, the f stop chosen is limited to where the manufacturer has placed its indents, so you do not have a wide variation in the light coming in.

Smooth scrolling iris lets the user choose the opening size that best suits the application. So if you need between f8 and f5.6, no problem choosing that!

Megapixel lenses have been designed specifically for the newer higher resolution cameras. If you are using one of these cameras for more than general imaging, you should be considering megapixel lenses. You are paying more for one of these cameras to get the higher resolution, don't skimp on the lens and ruin the resolution before the image gets to the sensor!

Microscope Objectives provide extremely high magnification and a close up focus. Most machine vision lenses cannot focus closer than 0.1m (~3"). If you need to look at a very small object with a standard size sensor (1/3" is about the smallest you can get), when you do the math, you find you have about a 10x factor to the whole sensor, if its a megapixel sensor and you need sub pixel measurements, well , thats where microscope objectives come in.

How do I know what focal length to use?
You can use the lens formula,

F = Do * Mi            where Mi = Di/Do    
      ---------
       1+Mi

or you can use our handy lens calculator.

It says I need a 14mm lens, but lenses only come in 12mm and 16mm!
We told you lensing is an art not a science! Either move the camera further or closer to the object, get a zoom lens, or use extension tubes.