Olympus Corporation

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Imaging Corporation

Toshihide Nozawa

Shinichi Mihara

Hisashi Goto

Yuji Miyauchi

Toyoharu Hanzawa

Yuko Kobayashi

Masahiro Imamura

Masahito Watanabe

Tsutomu Uzawa

Toru Miyajima

Kouki Hozumi

Takuji Horie

Yuji Kamo

Hidekazu Iwaki

Takashi Miyoshi

Tetsuya Yanai

Mayu Miki

Kazuhiko Arai

Tatsuo Inabata

Kyoko Iijima

Minoru Oshikiri

Shigeyuki Minami

A zoom lens comprises, in order from its object side, a first lens unit having a negative refractive power and a second lens unit having a positive refractive power. The first lens unit comprises a first lens having a negative refractive power and a second lens having a positive refractive power. The zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expressions (1), (2), and (3):&#x2266;1.70&#x2003;&#x2003;(1),&#x2266;1.70&#x2003;&#x2003;(2), and|&#x3bd;&#x2212;&#x3bd;&#x2267;31&#x2003;&#x2003;(3),where nis the refractive index of the first lens having a negative refractive power in the first lens unit for the d-line, &#x3bd;is the Abbe constant of the first lens having a negative refractive power in the first lens unit, nis the refractive index of the second lens having a positive refractive power in the first lens unit for the d-line, and &#x3bd;is the Abbe constant of the second lens having a positive refractive power in the first lens unit.

Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with same

There is disclosed a light projection optical system comprising a light source; a relay lens unit which has a negative lateral magnification and which converts a luminous flux that has diverged from the light source into converged light; and a projection lens unit which reduces a divergent angle of the luminous flux from the relay lens unit to convert a state of the luminous flux into a state close to that of a parallel luminous flux and which projects light toward a target region, wherein the following conditions are satisfied:0.9&#x3c;&#x3b2;r&#x3c;3.0 &#x2003;&#x2003;(1); and1.0&#x3c;(1+&#x3b2;)()&#x3c;6.0 &#x2003;&#x2003;(2),in which &#x3b2;r is an absolute value of the lateral magnification of the relay lens unit, fr is a focal length of the relay lens unit and fo is a focal length of the projection lens unit.

Light projection optical system and light projection apparatus using the same

An optical system is presented that enables images of a wide range of natural subjects to be well reproduced with their colors, and provides an image pickup system including, at least, an image pickup optical system, an electronic image pickup device having three or more different spectral characteristics to obtain a color image, and a controller for implementing signal processing or image processing on the basis of an output from the electronic image pickup device. The optical element that takes part in determining the focal length in the image pickup system includes an optical element making use of a refraction phenomenon alone. The 400-nm wavelength input/output ratio is 10% or less with respect to an input-output ratio for a 400-nm to 800-nm wavelength at which an output signal strength ratio with respect to an input quantity of light is highest when the input quantity of light is defined by the quantity of a light beam emanating from the same object point and entering the image pickup optical system and the output signal strength is defined by the strength of a signal produced from the controller in response to the light beam.

Image pickup device and image pickup optical system

An optical system enables images to be well reproduced with their colors, and provides an image pickup system including an image pickup optical system, an electronic image pickup device to obtain a color image and a controller for implementing signal processing or image processing on the basis of an output from the electronic image pickup device. The optical element that takes part in the determination of a focal length includes an optical element making use of a refraction phenomenon alone. The 400-nm wavelength input/output ratio is 10% or less with respect to an input-output ratio for a 400-nm to 800-nm wavelength at which an output signal strength ratio with respect to an input quantity of light is highest when the input quantity of light is defined by the quantity of a light beam emanating from the same object point and entering the image pickup optical system and the output signal strength is defined by the strength of a signal produced from the controller in response to the light beam.

An optical system enables images of a wide range of natural subjects to be well reproduced with their colors, and provides an image pickup system including, at least, an image pickup optical system, an electronic image pickup device having three or more different spectral characteristics to obtain a color image, and a controller for implementing signal processing or image processing on the basis of an output from the electronic image pickup device. The optical element that takes part in the determination of a focal length in said image pickup system includes an optical element making use of a refraction phenomenon alone. The 400-nm wavelength input/output ratio is 10% or less with respect to an input-output ratio for a 400-nm to 800-nm wavelength at which an output signal strength ratio with respect to an input quantity of light is highest when the input quantity of light is defined by the quantity of a light beam emanating from the same object point and entering the image pickup optical system and the output signal strength is defined by the strength of a signal produced from the controller in response to the light beam.

The invention makes a suitable selection from zoom modes and lens elements so thin that the thickness of each lens group can reduced, thereby slimming down a zoom lens with great thoroughness and, hence, an electronic image pickup system. The electronic image pickup system a zoom lens and an electronic image pickup device located on the image plane side of the zoom lens. The zoom lens comprises, in order from the object side, a first lens group Gcomprising two lens components and having generally negative power and a second lens group Gcomprising two lens components and having generally positive power. The focal length of the zoom lens can be varied by varying the air separation between the first lens group Gand the second lens group G. The zoom lens should satisfy at least one of conditions (a) to (n).

Electronic image pickup system

Electronic image pickup system including a zoom lens and an electronic image pickup device located on an image plane side of the zoom lens

The invention relates to an image-formation optical system capable of achieving wide-angle arrangement and compactness at the same time and an imaging system that incorporates the same. The image-formation optical system is made up of, in order from its object side, a first positive lens L, a second negative lens L, a third positive lens Land a fourth positive lens L. The composite focal length of the first positive lens Land the second negative lens Lis positive, or the composite focal length of the second negative lens L, the third positive lens Land the fourth positive lens Lis negative.

Image-formation optical system, and imaging system incorporating the same

The invention relates to a stereo imaging unit or system that can have a suitable degree of parallax and a wide angle of view even when used with an image pickup device smaller than film. The stereo imaging unit comprises a first entrance windowL and a second entrance windowR juxtaposed in the left-and-right direction, a plurality of reflecting surfacesL,L for guiding a light beam from the first entrance windowL to a single image pickup device, a plurality of reflecting surfacesR,R for guiding a light beam from the second entrance windowR to the image pickup device, a first negative lens groupL for the light beam from the first entrance windowL, a first positive lens grouplocated at an image side thereof via the longest air spacing in the lens system, a second lens groupR for the light beam from the second entrance windowR, and a second positive lens grouplocated on an image side thereof via the longest air spacing in the lens system, and satisfies conditions (1), (2), (3) and (4) for defining the focal lengths of the negative and positive lens groups in terms of the focal length of the overall lens system.

Stereo imaging system

The invention relates to an optical system which, albeit being simple in construction, enables images of a wide range of natural subjects to be well reproduced with their colors, and provides an image pickup system comprising, at least, an image pickup optical system, an electronic image pickup devicehaving three or more different spectral characteristics to obtain a color image and a controllerfor implementing signal processing or image processing on the basis of an output from the electronic image pickup device. The optical element that takes part in the determination of a focal length in said image pickup system comprises an optical element making use of a refraction phenomenon alone. The 400-nm wavelength input/output ratio is 10% or less with respect to an input/output ratio for a 400-nm to 700-nm wavelength at which an output signal strength ratio with respect to an input quantity of light is highest with the proviso that the input quantity of light is defined by the quantity of a light beam emanating from the same object point and entering the image pickup optical system and the output signal strength is defined by the strength of a signal produced from the controllerin response to the light beam.

The invention relates to an image-formation optical system that satisfies demands toward high performance and compactness at the same time, and an imaging system incorporating the same. The image-formation optical system comprises, in order from its object side, an aperture stop S, a first positive meniscus lens L1 convex on its object side, a second positive lens L2 having an aspheric surface and a third negative lens L3 having an aspheric surface, and satisfies the following condition.&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)Here &#x3a3;d is the distance on an optical axis of the image-formation optical system from the object side-surface of the first positive meniscus lens to the image plane side-surface of the third negative lens, and f is the focal length of the image-formation optical system.

Image-formation optical system, and imaging system

An imaging optical system that is of a small-format size yet capable of easily securing a back focus, and an imaging system that incorporates the same has only two lenses, specifically, a first meniscus lens Lconvex on its object side and a second lens Lhaving positive refracting power and a convex surface configured such that the absolute value of the curvature of the object side-surface of the second lens is larger than the absolute value of the curvature of image side-surface of the second lens. An aperture stop S is located on the object side of an image-formation lens arrangement. A first condition concerning the focal length ratio between the first meniscus lens Land the second lens Land a second condition concerning the shape factor of an air lens between the first meniscus lens Land the second lens Lare satisfied.

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Hachioji, Japan

Toshihide Nozawa