Getting Started

New to optical bench? These short guides will walk you through the ideas behind camera lenses — no prior optics knowledge required.

How Lenses Work

Start with the basics: refraction, focal length, and how multiple glass elements combine to form an image.

• How Camera Lenses Work — A gentle conceptual introduction
• Optics In More Detail — Deeper dive into ray behavior and element roles

Cardinal Points and Dimensions

Every lens, no matter how complex, can be summarized by a handful of reference points and distances along the optical axis. Once you know where they sit, you can predict where the image forms and how big it will be.

• Cardinal Points of a Lens — Focal, principal, and nodal points explained
• Lens Dimensions and Distances — EFL, BFD, FFD, hiatus, and total track

Aberrations

Real lenses are imperfect. Learn what aberrations are and why lens designers spend so much effort corralling them.

• Understanding Aberrations — What goes wrong and why it matters
• Aberrations In Depth — Quantitative treatment and correction strategies

Using the Interactive Viewer

Once you have the basics, jump into the Lens Library and open any lens. The viewer lets you:

• Drag the focus and aperture sliders to see how rays shift
• Click any lens element to inspect its curvature and glass type
• Open the Aberrations & Distortions panel for quantitative analysis
• Enable the zoom/pan mode for a close-up look at any region