Fundamental Parameters of Optics

The following list includes the fundamental parameters that must be evaluated in optics:

Field of View (FoV): total area that can be viewed by the lens and imaged onto the camera sensor.

Working distance (WD): object to lens distance where the image is at its sharpest focus.

Depth of Field (DoF): maximum range where the object appears to be in acceptable focus.

Sensor size: size of the camera sensor’s active area. This can be easily calculated by multiplying the pixel size by the sensor resolution (number of active pixels in the x and y direction).

Magnification: ratio between sensor size and FoV.

Resolution: minimum distance between two points that can still be distinguished as separate points. Resolution is a complex parameter, which depends primarily on the lens and camera resolution.