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Aperture
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In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are, which is of great importance for the appearance at the image plane.
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In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are, which is of great importance for the appearance at the image plane. If the admitted rays also pass through a lens, highly collimated rays (narrow aperture) will result in sharpness at the image plane, while uncollimated rays (wide aperture) will result in sharpness for rays with the right focal length only. This means that a wide aperture results in an image that is sharp around what the lens is focusing on and blurred otherwise. The aperture also determines how many of the incoming rays are actually admitted and thus how much light that reaches the image plane (the narrower the aperture, the darker the image).
An optical system typically has many openings, or structures that limit the ray bundles (ray bundles are also known as pencils of light). These structures may be the edge of a lens or mirror, or a ring or other fixture that holds an optical element in place, or may be a special element such as a diaphragm placed in the optical path to limit the light admitted by the system. In general, these structures are called stops, and the aperture stop is the stop that determines the ray cone angle, or equivalently the brightness, at an image point.
In some contexts, especially in photography and astronomy, aperture refers to the diameter of the aperture stop rather than the physical stop or the opening itself. For example, in a telescope the aperture stop is typically the edges of the objective lens or mirror (or of the mount that holds it). One then speaks of a telescope as having, for example, a 100 centimeter aperture. Note that the aperture stop is not necessarily the smallest stop in the system. Magnification and demagnification by lenses and other elements can cause a relatively large stop to be the aperture stop for the system.
Sometimes stops and diaphragms are called apertures, even when they are not the aperture stop of the system.
The word aperture is also used in other contexts to indicate a system which blocks off light outside a certain region. In astronomy for example, a photometric aperture around a star usually corresponds to a circular window around the image of a star within which the light intensity is summed.
Application
The aperture stop is an important element in most optical designs. Its most obvious feature is that it limits the amount of light that can reach the image/film plane. This can either be undesired, as in a telescope where one wants to collect as much light as possible; or deliberate, to prevent saturation of a detector or overexposure of film. In both cases, the size of the aperture stop is constrained by things other than the amount of light admitted, however:
- The size of the stop is one factor that affects depth of field. Smaller stops produce a longer depth of field, allowing objects at a wide range of distances to all be in focus at the same time.
- The stop limits the effect of optical aberrations. If the stop is too large, the image will be distorted. More sophisticated optical system designs can mitigate the effect of aberrations, allowing a larger stop and therefore greater light collecting ability.
- The stop determines whether the image will be vignetted. Larger stops can cause the intensity reaching the film or detector to fall off toward the edges of the picture, especially when for off-axis points a different stop becomes the aperture stop by virtue of cutting off more light than did the stop that was the aperture stop on the optic axis.
- A larger aperture stop requires larger diameter optics, which are heavier and more expensive.
In addition to an aperture stop, a photographic lens may have one or more field stops, which limit the system's field of view. When the field of view is limited by a field stop in the lens (rather than at the film or sensor) vignetting results; this is only a problem if the resulting field of view is less than was desired.
The pupil of the eye is its aperture; the iris is the diaphragm that serves as the aperture stop. Refraction in the cornea causes the effective aperture (the entrance pupil) to differ slightly from the physical pupil diameter. The entrance pupil is typically about 4 mm in diameter, although it can range from 2 mm in a brightly lit place to 8 mm in the dark.
In astronomy, the diameter of the aperture stop (called the aperture) is a critical parameter in the design of a telescope. Generally, one would want the aperture to be as large as possible, to collect the maximum amount of light from the distant objects being imaged. The size of the aperture is limited, however, in practice by considerations of cost and weight, as well as prevention of aberrations (as mentioned above).
In photography
The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film's degree of exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.
A device called a diaphragm usually serves as the aperture stop, and controls the aperture. The diaphragm functions much like the iris of the eye—it controls the effective diameter of the lens opening. Reducing the aperture size increases the depth of field, which describes the extent to which subject matter lying closer than or farther from the actual plane of focus appears to be in focus. In general, the smaller the aperture (the larger the number), the greater the distance from the plane of focus the subject matter may be while still appearing in focus.
The lens aperture is usually specified as an f-number, the ratio of focal length to effective aperture diameter. A lens typically has a set of marked "f-stops" that the f-number can be set to. A lower f-number denotes a greater aperture opening which allows more light to reach the film or image sensor. The photography term "one f-stop" refers to a factor of v2 (approx. 1.41) change in f-number, which in turn corresponds to a factor of 2 change in light intensity.
Aperture priority is a semi-automatic shooting mode used in cameras. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the shutter speed and sometimes ISO sensitivity for the correct exposure. This is sometimes referred to as Aperture Priority Auto Exposure, A mode, Av mode, or semi-auto mode.
Maximum and minimum apertures
The specifications for a given lens typically include the minimum and maximum apertures.
These refer to the maximum and minimum f-numbers the lens can be set at to achieve, respectively.
A typical lens will have an f-number range from 16 (small aperture) to 2 (large aperture) (these values vary).
The maximum aperture (minimum f-number) tends to be of most interest (and is always included when describing a lens). This value is also known as the lens speed, because it is proportional to the square of accepted light, and thus inversely proportional to the square of required exposure time (i.e. using a lens with f/2, one can take pictures at one quarter of the exposure time necessary using a f/4 lens). Lenses for 35mm cameras can have f-numbers below 1.0. For instance both the Leica Noctilux-M 50mm ASPH and a Canon 50mm L-mount for rangefinders have a maximum aperture of 0.95. Professional lenses for some movie cameras have f-numbers as low as 0.75 (very large relative aperture). These are known as "fast" lenses because they allow in more light and therefore reduce the exposure time. Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon has scenes with the largest relative aperture in film history: 0.7.
Lenses of low f-number, often with fixed focal length, are popular for example with photojournalists, who often work in dim light and have no opportunity to introduce supplementary lighting.
Zoom lenses typically have a maximum aperture (minimum f-number) of 2.8 to 6.3 through their range. A very fast zoom lens will be constant 2.8 or 2, which means the relative aperture will stay the same throughout the zoom range. A more typical consumer zoom will have a variable relative aperture, since it is harder and more expensive to keep the effective aperture proportional to focal length at long focal lengths; 3.5 to 5.6 is an example of a common variable aperture range in a consumer zoom lens.
Aperture area
The amount of light captured by a lens is proportional to the area of the aperture, equal to:
Where f is focal length and N is the f-number.
The focal length value is not required when comparing two lenses of the same focal length; a value of 1 can be used instead, and the other factors can be dropped as well, leaving area proportion to the reciprocal square of the f-number N..
If two cameras of different format sizes and focal lengths have the same angle of view, and the same aperture area, they gather the same amount of light from the scene. The relative focal-plane illuminance, however, depends only on the f-number N, independent of the focal length, so is less in the camera with the larger format, longer focal length, and higher f-number.
Aperture control
Most SLR cameras provide automatic aperture control, which allows viewing and metering at the lens’s maximum aperture, stops the lens down to the working aperture during exposure, and returns the lens to maximum aperture after exposure.
The first SLR cameras with internal (“through-the-lens” or “TTL”)
meters (e.g., the Pentax Spotmatic) required that the lens be stopped down to the working aperture when taking a meter reading. With a small aperture, this darkened the
viewfinder, making viewing and composition difficult.
Subsequent models
soon incorporated mechanical coupling between the lens and the camera body,
indicating the working aperture to the camera while allowing the lens to be at
its maximum aperture for composition and focusing;
this feature became known as automatic aperture control or automatic diaphragm control.
For some lenses, including a few long telephotos, lenses mounted on
bellows, and perspective-control and tilt/shift lenses, the mechanical
linkage was impractical,
and automatic aperture control was not
possible. Many such lenses incorporated a feature known as a “preset”
aperture,
which allows the lens to be set to working aperture and then
quickly switched between working aperture and full aperture without looking
at the aperture control. Typical operation might be to establish rough
composition, set the working aperture for metering, return to full aperture
for a final check of focus and composition, and focusing, and finally,
return to working aperture just before exposure. Although slightly easier
than stopped-down metering, operation is less convenient
than automatic operation. Preset aperture controls have taken several
forms; the most common has been the use of essentially two lens aperture
rings, with one ring setting the aperture and the other serving as a limit
stop when switching to working aperture. Examples of lenses with this type
of preset aperture control are the Nikon PC Nikkor 28 mm 3.5
and the SMC Pentax Shift 6×7 75 mm
4.5. The Nikon PC Micro-Nikkor 85 mm 2.8D lens
incorporates a mechanical pushbutton that sets working aperture when pressed
and restores full aperture when pressed a second time.
Canon EF lenses, introduced in 1987,
have electromagnetic diaphragms,
eliminating the need for a mechanical linkage between the camera and the lens, and allowing automatic aperture control with the Canon TS-E tilt/shift lenses.
Nikon PC-E perspective-control lenses,
introduced in 2008, also have
electromagnetic diaphragms.
Automatic aperture control is provided with
the newer Nikon digital SLR cameras; with some earlier cameras, the
lenses offer preset aperture control by means of a pushbutton that
controls the electromagnetic diaphragm.
In scanning or sampling
The terms scanning aperture and sampling aperture are often used to refer to the opening through which an image is sampled, or scanned, for example in a Drum scanner, an image sensor, or a television pickup apparatus. The sampling aperture can be a literal optical aperture, that is, a small opening in space, or it can be a time-domain aperture for sampling a signal waveform.
For example, film grain is quantified as graininess via a measurement of film density fluctuations as seen through a 0.048 mm sampling aperture.
See also
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