Afocal photography
Encyclopedia
Afocal photography, also called afocal imaging or afocal projection is a method of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 where the camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

 with its lens attached is mounted over the eyepiece
Eyepiece
An eyepiece, or ocular lens, is a type of lens that is attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes. It is so named because it is usually the lens that is closest to the eye when someone looks through the device. The objective lens or mirror collects light and brings...

 of another image forming system such as a optical telescope
Optical telescope
An optical telescope is a telescope which is used to gather and focus light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum for directly viewing a magnified image for making a photograph, or collecting data through electronic image sensors....

 or optical microscope
Optical microscope
The optical microscope, often referred to as the "light microscope", is a type of microscope which uses visible light and a system of lenses to magnify images of small samples. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly designed in their present compound form in the...

, with the camera lens taking the place of the human eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...

.

Overview

Afocal photography works with any system that can produce a virtual image
Virtual image
In optics, a virtual image is an image in which the outgoing rays from a point on the object always diverge. It will appear to converge in or behind the optical device . A simple example is a flat mirror where the image of oneself is perceived at twice the distance from oneself to the mirror...

 of parallel light, for example telescopes and microscopes. Afocal photographic setups work because the imaging device’s eyepiece produces collimated light and with the camera's lens focused at infinity, creating an afocal system
Afocal system
In optics an afocal system is an optical system that produces no net convergence or divergence of the beam, i.e. has an infinite effective focal length. This type of system can be created with a pair of optical elements where the distance between the elements is equal to the sum of each element's...

 with no net convergence or divergence in the light path between the two devices. In this system the device is focused on the object and the camera is placed above the eyepiece as close as possible. The drawback is the system will have a high focal ratio, with a correspondingly dim image, and some vignetting
Vignetting
In photography and optics, vignetting  is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center. The word vignette, from the same root as vine, originally referred to a decorative border in a book. Later, the word came to be used for a photographic...

. A high focal ratio also means the field of view
Field of view
The field of view is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment....

 will be narrow. Field of view can be calculated using:

Focal field of view
Field of view
The field of view is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment....

/angle of view
Angle of view
In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....

:
Approximate:
Precise:

Film afocal photography

Historically afocal photography with 35 mm SLR or large format film cameras is a very difficult method of photography. With film cameras the bulk and mechanical shake has to be taken into consideration, with some setups employing a separate tripod for the camera (adding the complexity of setting up the camera in relationship to the eyepiece). The general difficulties of focus and exposure with film cameras, along with the detailed mathematical calculations, combined with the time lag of waiting for the film to be developed, means film afocal photography can be pretty hit and miss.

Digital afocal photography

The advent of digital single-lens reflex camera
Digital single-lens reflex camera
Most digital single-lens reflex cameras are digital cameras that use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera....

 and, moreover, compact point and shoot digital cameras has made the afocal method far more popular since this type of camera is small enough to mount directly on to telescopes or other devices, is for the most part a solid state device
Solid state (electronics)
Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

 with minimal moving parts, has auto focus, has auto exposure adjustment, has some capacity for time exposure, usually has a zoom mechanism to crop vignetting, and has a video screen on the back side of the camera so you can actually see the image hitting the image plane. A whole new industry has sprung up selling couplers and other devices for mounting digital cameras afocally. Simply holding the camera up to the eyepiece and snapping a picture can obtain usable results. Most popular types of consumer digital cameras have non-removable lenses so afocal photography is also the only method available for these types of cameras.

Afocal astrophotography

Afocal photography is a form of astrophotography
Astrophotography
Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography that entails recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photographs of an astronomical object were taken in the 1840s, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for...

 long practiced by astronomers. Afocal setups with film and digital cameras are not the preferred system for astrophotography since astrophotographers have many ways of coupling a camera to an astronomical telescope, the simplest being prime focus (using no camera lens and allowing the image to fall directly onto the film, or image plane of a digital single-lens reflex camera or purpose built astronomical CCD camera). Amateur astronomers were early adapters of compact digital still and video cameras, employed them in afocal astrophotography almost from their invention.

But since most celestial objects require a long exposure, compact consumer digital cameras are somewhat problematic due to their high inherent sensor noise. This noise limits their usefulness, especially since point-objects, such as stars, can be obscured by even one "hot" pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....

. The narrow field of view for this type of photography lends itself to lunar and planetary objects. Continuing advancements in digital camera and image manipulation have somewhat overcome this limitation and digital afocal astrophotography has become more popular.

Daytime afocal photography

Since the development of compact digital cameras, afocal photography is also widely used by birdwatchers
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...

, naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

, and other photographers. In the birdwatching community it quickly acquired the coined name of “digiscoping
Digiscoping
Digiscoping is a neologism for the activity of using a digital camera to record distant images by coupling it with an optical telescope. The term usually refers to using either a digital single-lens reflex camera with lens attached or, more often, a fixed lens point and shoot digital camera to...

”. Birdwatchers and naturalist found a digital camera used afocally with a spotting scope
Spotting scope
A spotting scope is a small portable telescope with added optics to present an erect image, optimized for the observation of terrestrial objects...

 to be a particularly effective technique since it gave them an easy way to record their subjects (sometimes by simply holding the camera up to the eyepiece) as well as allowing them to take relatively high quality photographs. Since these types of photographs are usually single subjects (narrow field) in daylight hours, the light loss and narrow angle of view
Angle of view
In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....

 are not a hindrance, and the high effective focal lengths are a plus. It also gives the photographer the use of a very long lens without buying and lugging around extra equipment (except maybe a small afocal adapter).
This technique has lent itself to many other types of photography including photographing plants (for example, wild orchids growing in the canopy of a jungle), insects (for example, wild bees near their beehive), other shy or dangerous wild animals, or details in old buildings (for example, statues/gargoyles on the roof of old churches/castles).

External links

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