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(5.6s) Hi, I'm Nick Sischka, an imaging engineer at Edmund Optics. One of the most common questions that I get as an imaging engineer is how can I increase my depth of field or how can I maximize the depth of field of my system?

And unfortunately, in a traditional lens system, the depth of field is limited by the aperture size and by the resolution of the lens system that you are using. However, with the advent of some new technology, namely liquid lens technology or focus-tunable lens technology, one is able to very rapidly refocus between different heights of objects and overcome the limitations of depth of field. For example, if you're looking at two different objects that have two different heights, you can very, very quickly refocus from one plane of focus to the next on the order of tens of milliseconds. The system here has two different imaging systems set up, both with a 25 millimeter focal length lens. However, the system on the left is augmented with a focus tunable lens. And as the jars spin by and are triggered, the focus tunable lens is able to focus very quickly on each height of the jar. The system on the right, however, which does not have a liquid lens on it, is only able to focus on one plane at a time. Thanks so much for joining me. And again, I'm Nick Sischka, an imaging engineer at Edmund Optics. (10.5s)

Understanding Liquid Lens Technology

Liquid lenses can be used to maximize imaging system flexibility across a wide variety of applications requiring rapid focusing. By integrating a liquid lens, the imaging system can change the plane of focus in milliseconds in order to provide sharp images, regardless of the object’s distance from the camera. This makes integrating liquid lenses an ideal choice for applications that require focusing at multiple distances where the objects under inspection are different sizes or at different distances away from the lens such as barcode reading, package sorting, security, and rapid automation. Learn More about Liquid Lens Technology.