Monday, October 6, 2008

A new option for telecentric lenses

I’ve touched on telecentricity before (here): it’s the best way to produce high quality images suitable for accurate gauging. But one downside of telecentric lenses is their price. Because they provide a parallel rather than a conical ‘view’ the lens needs a diameter larger than the object you’re looking at. This makes them very expensive. My rule of thumb is $1,000 per inch of diameter, so if you want to view something 6” in size you’ll need at least a $6,000 lens.

Well a German company by the name of Kryptronic has come out with what appears to be a modular telecentric lens. (There’s a good description on the optics.org web site, here.)

I suspect that, in comparison with a ‘standard’, small diameter telecentric lens, the Kryptronic approach will be expensive. Where it will score though is in lab environments. Rather than investing a large sum in a range of lenses, Kryptronic let you purchase components that can be assembled the way you want it.

As Burger King put it, “Have it your way!”

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