Modern Optical Engineering, 4th Ed.

I've worked as a lens designer for 30 years. In that time, many people have had questions about lens design. If I was unable to answer the question in an hour or less, I would hand them a copy of Modern Optical Engineering. Warren Smith did the industry a tremendous favor by writing this book and updating it every so often.The book starts with a four chapter overview of first order optics: cardinal points, image position and size, paraxial ray tracing and so on. The next two chapters introduce optical aberrations. Although all of the different ways of describing aberrations (transverse, longitudinal, angular and wavefront) are mentioned, Smith focuses on transverse. Readers specifically interested in the wavefront formulation would be advised to refer to Welford's "Aberrations of Optical Systems" or Kidger's "Fundamental Optical Design". The next few chapters provide valuable information for lens designers, but it's hard to summarize them as a unit. Included in this group is Chapter 9. Stops, Apertures, Pupils and Diffraction, to which I've referred more people than any other.With the background covered, Chapters 13 starts the main section of the book on how to go about designing lenses. Had Smith taken the time to do a more thorough rewrite, rather than primarily adding chapters, this section could have been more cohesive, but it is good enough as it is. Chapters 13 and 14 cover optical system layout. They are followed by a chapter on Wavefront Aberrations and MTF that was called "Image Evaluation" in earlier editions. This chapter is critical for understanding how well a lens design will perform. Chapters 16-18 walk the reader through the process of lens design, giving a number of examples. Smith was an expert, so the gems offered in these chapters bear repeated reference. Chapter 19 is an attempt to fill a void left when Cox's "A System of Optical Design" went out of print. Cox's Lens Performance Section, with its hundreds of evaluated patented lens designs provided a wealth of starting points for a generation of lens designers. Smith's chapter with 62 evaluated designs, including the OSLO performance report, is a bit broader in coverage, but has only a small fraction of the designs.Smith closes the book with a chapter that gives a background on how to work with an optical manufacturer and one on working with lenses you can purchase off the shelf.There are many other books on lens design, but Smith's is a classic.

As I find my way back to more advanced optics for a recent job change, I am impressed by how attractive this book is. This book takes a different approach in teaching new concepts. I love that it brings up intriguing subjects to keep you interested and doesn’t bombard you with just dry formulas. It shows experience goes a long way when it comes to transferring knowledge.

Look, the joker who says this is a High School level text is dead wrong. Having been in the field for 10 years now and with a degree in optics, I tell you this is a very good text. No one book can make you a good engineer in any discipline, but lots of books help. The folks I know who are seriously involved in optics, all have this book. No one book is the bible of optics. Problem with "engineers" nowadays....not a broad enough background in engineering in general or even in their field...to specialized. Know your basics, get lots of books.

This book is great, whether you're a new or seasoned optical designer or an optomechanical engineer in need of a thorough reference, this book is the one you should have.

A classic book on Optics. I have had the original edition for a number of years and have refer to it often. This new edition is great and contains a lot of updated material. Highly recommended!

Im not recomend beginer. Reading this bofre, you reading basic phsics. This book is useful for those who know the basics.

Good

The Kindle version of this book blows. It's hard to navigate and the index becomes completely useless because there are no page numbers. You end up having to use the search tool to find what you're looking for and the results are all over the place!