Customer Reviews

Optics in Photography (SPIE Press Monograph Vol. PM06)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Depending on one's background in math and science, this may be a long slog or a quick romp, but the sometimes arcane drawings and formulas cover just about any question an average photographer might have about lenses and how they work. Kingslake did an admirable job of taking some very complex physics and making it accessible to the rest of the world.

This is one of the most awkwardly worded, most difficult to read books I have ever read. The diagrams are not all that clear either.

On the other hand, it has allot of difficult to find information that is relevant to every photographic and projection system. It took me about 6 months to plow through it but it was worth it for the understanding I got out of it. It is an excellent reference book. I would only recommend it to professionals and the most obsessed amatures.

It has good very technical info on how different types of lenses work, how to do custom adjustments to images to compensate to the viewing angle, resolution required for viewing distance, calibrating resolution, stereo photography, scanning slit cameras, swingback cameras, pinhole cameras, projection systems etc.

This is one of the most awkwardly worded, difficult to read books I have ever read and the diagrams are not always clear.

On the otherhand, it was worth the 6 months it took me to read it. The book is an education on optics with allot of hard to find information that is relevant to all types of photographic and projection systems. It is a good book to have for reference.

Some people seem to be buying this book thinking it's going to read like How to Take Good Pictures, Revised Edition, but this book is more technical than a simple how-to book. In this book, Kingslake runs the gamut, discussing optical concepts, aberrations, lens types, film, enlargers, projectors, etc. There are probably a good 100 pictures and illustrations in here. Those alone--with their descriptive captions--provide an extensive education about lenses, photography and image quality.

If you want to know the difference between depth of focus and depth of field, or if you want to know the imaging difference between zooming in on something with a lens vs. zooming in on something with a fixed-focus camera that slides on a rail, the answer will be in this book.