Lens Design, Third Edition, (Optical Science and Engineering) [Hardcover]

Milton Laikin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0824705076 | ISBN-13: 978-0824705077 | Publication Date: March 29, 2001 | Edition: 3

Featuring over 700 references, equations, tables, and drawings, this highly lauded and best-selling reference emphasizes practical designs of over 30 lens systems, including single-element, two-element achromats, air-spaced triplets, projection lenses, and sophisticated wide-angle and zoom lenses. It comes with software that supplies starting solutions for computer optimization programs lens prescriptions and several shorter programs to compute the refractive index of glasses from a variety of manufacturers, create lens drawings, perform zoom computations, do test glass fitting, and calculate third-order solutions for single lenses, achromats, and triplets.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 504 pages
• Publisher: CRC Press; 3 edition (March 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824705076
• ISBN-13: 978-0824705077
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,378,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Was there an editor?, May 8, 2008

By 

U. Block (SF Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lens Design, Fourth Edition (Optical Science and Engineering) (Hardcover)

I've only read the first ten pages, but that was enough to know that this book needs help. Lots of help. I'm shocked to know that it is the FOURTH EDITION and the first ten pages are riddled with errors, inconsistencies, and all-around poor presentation. Paragraphs that seem to end mid-sentence. Big, bold, section headings that misspell common words like "refractive". Technical drawings that appear to have been done in Microsoft Paint (Seriously, check out the semicircle showing the angle theta on the middle of page 8. I'd give you the figure number BUT THEY DON'T LABEL IT.) Figures that sort of appear mid-sentence, as if they were entered in-line with text in MS Word. Variables that are suddenly introduced with no definition.

Reading this is painful. I've read lots of scientific/mathematic/engineering texts (I have a PhD in Applied Physics). I will not continue with this book any further. I had to re-read the second page about ten times trying to figure out if they had randomly placed the wrong paragraph on it. I finally moved on and realized that no, this is just the way the book reads.

Thank goodness I didn't pay for it (was included in a purchase of ZEMAX EE software for work).

I do not doubt that the author is very experienced and has lots of knowledge to give, but he needs another pair of eyes (or two or three) to go through the book to edit and make sure it's readable and presented professionally. They also need to get someone to redo many of the figures/sketches. The text is worth one star, the inclusion of all the sample lens designs, both in the book and on the included CD-ROM, could be useful though.

Mind you, I'm quitting mid-first chapter. Perhaps the book is amazing in later chapters, but I am definitely not sticking around to find out.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book sucks!, December 11, 2007

By 

mike rosing "Dr. mike" (Madison WI usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lens Design, Fourth Edition (Optical Science and Engineering) (Hardcover)

I got this book to learn about zoom lenses. It has 6 chapters on the subject, so it must have something to say. I started in chapter 33 (First Order Theory, Mechanically Compensated Zoom) and found that the second equation was wrong. Looking at things further, I found that the units do not match the meanings of the variables in the remainder of the chapter. The author seems to be cutting and pasting from several sources without regard to what the variables mean, and screws up the whole description in the process. The reference to MIL-HDBK-141 is all I got out of it. If you need to learn something, don't buy this book!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For practicing lens designers only, March 18, 2005

By 

Arthur J. Vandereedt "vanarty" (Annapolis, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lens Design, Third Edition, (Optical Science and Engineering) (Hardcover)

I work in the electro-optics field, with a background in EE and laser resonators. Since I came from a electrical engineering background, I have sought to get more knowledge in the practical field of lens design beyond laser resonators and optical accesories. For that reason, bought this book, as well as the Virendra N. Mahajan series on Optics and Abberrations.
Unlike that series, as well as the Siegman classic on Lasers, this book introduces many equations, terms, and plots, as well as glass catalog items, with very little in the way of introduction, derivation or even an explanation of terms. It is solely meant for a an experienced practicing lens designers only. I was very disapppointed in this book and its review. I found it was reviewed wrongly, for the level at which it should be purchased and read, quite disceptive as a result, even though I wam sure it was not unintentional.