This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No, 10-2014-0193656, filed on Dec. 30, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a telephoto lens system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a telephoto lens system in which a single lens plurality of reflecting areas and a plurality of transmitting areas in order to reduce the length of the lens and increase a focal length, thereby reducing the length of the entire telephoto lens system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A telephoto lens is a lens able to magnify a distant object such that the object is magnified at an angle of view smaller than a typical angle of view of people.
In general, this telephoto lens has a long total optical track length (TTL), i.e. a length from the summit of the front surface of a lens to an imaging surface.
This limitation in the length makes it difficult to mount the telephoto lens on thin devices such as smartphones.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,542,219 disclosed a lens system including six lenses, in which a focal length f is 67.74 mm, a total optical track length (TTL) is 68.53 mm, and TTL/f=1.01. In this case, the ratio of the TTL to the focal length is greater than one. When the focal length is scaled to about 14 mm, the total track length is 14.16 mm, which is inapplicable to thin smartphones.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,259 disclosed a catadioptric lens system including four lenses and two reflectors, which cannot be miniaturized.
The information disclosed in the Background of the Invention section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or as any form of suggestion that this information forms a prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring In the related art, and the present invention is intended to propose a telephoto lens system in which a single lens has a plurality of reflecting areas and a plurality of transmitting areas in order to reduce the length of the lens and increase a focal length, thereby reducing the length of the entire telephoto lens system.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a telephoto lens system including a lens disposed on an optical axis from an object. A front part of the lens includes a reflecting area in a central portion and a transmitting area in a circumferential portion. A rear part of the lens includes a concave transmitting area in a central portion and a reflecting area in a circumferential portion. The lens is formed of a single material.
The reflecting area in the front part of the lens may be concave in a direction toward the object.
The inner diameter of the reflecting area in the rear part of the lens may be greater than the outer diameter of the transmitting area in the rear part of the lens.
The transmitting area and the reflecting area in the rear part of the lens may be connected to each other via an inclined surface extending from an inner diameter of the reflecting area to an outer diameter of the transmitting area. The inclined surface may be shaped to converge forward about the optical axis.
The inclined surface may be provided with a light-blocking means. The inclined surface may have a stepped shape.
In light bundles emitted from the object on the optical axis, a ray of light propagating at a height corresponding to 90% of an effective diameter may be directed satisfying the following relationship: |ang3|>|ang4|×2, were ang3 indicates an angle of light reflected from the reflecting area in the rear part with respect to the optical axis, and ang4 indicates an angle of light reflected from the reflecting area in the front part with respect to the optical axis.
A relationship: TTL/f<0.4 may be satisfied, where TTL is a total optical track length or a length from a summit of a front surface of the lens to an imaging surface, and f is a focal length.
The lens may be formed of a plastic material.
The telephoto lens system may further include one to three rear lenses arranged on the optical axis and sequentially at a rear of the transmitting area of the rear part of the lens. The rear lens may be formed of a plastic material, at least one surface of the rear lens forming an aspheric lens.
According to the present invention as set forth above, a single lens has a plurality of reflecting areas and a plurality of transmitting areas in order to reduce the length of the lens and increase a focal length, thereby reducing the length of the entire telephoto lens system. The angle of light with respect to the optical axis is controlled to improve imaging, thereby improving the performance of the optical system. A small but high-definition telephoto lens system is provided.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention relates to a telephoto lens system of which the total optical track length (TTL), i.e. the length from the summit of the front surface of a lens to an imaging surface, is shorter than the focal length f. More particularly, the present invention relates to a telephoto lens system in which a single lens has a plurality of reflecting areas and a plurality of transmitting areas in order to reduce the total length of the lens and increase the focal length, thereby reducing the length of the entire telephoto lens system.
Reference will now be made in greater detail to the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
An aspect of the present invention provides a telephoto lens system in which a lens is arranged on an optical axis from an object. The front part of the lens has a reflecting area in the central portion and a transmitting area in the circumferential portion, and the rear part of the lens has a concave transmitting area in the central portion and a reflecting area in the circumferential portion. The lens is formed of a single material.
A single lens is provided, and reflecting areas and the transmitting areas are provided in the front part and the rear part of the lens. More specifically, the reflecting areas are formed in the central portion of the front part and the circumferential portion of the rear part of the lens, whereas the transmitting areas are formed in the circumferential portion of the front part and the central portion of the rear part of the lens.
This geometry of the lens having the single lens reduces the length of the entire lens system while increasing the focal length, thereby enabling a small telephoto lens system to be provided.
A light bundle from an object on the optical axis first passes through the circumferential transmitting area (second surface) of the front part of the lens, is reflected from the circumferential reflecting area (third surface) of the rear part of the lens, is reflected again from the central reflecting area (fourth surface) of the front part of the lens, and subsequently passes through the central transmitting area (fifth surface) of the rear part of the lens, thereby forming an image on the imaging surface.
This structure reduces the length of the entire lens and increases the focal length, thereby improving the telephoto lens. This structure also enables a small telephoto lens system to be provided, such that a high-performance telephoto lens system is applicable to small electronics such as smartphones.
The reflecting area of the front part of the lens is concave in the direction toward the object such that light reflected from the circumferential reflecting area of the rear part of the lens is reflected again and converges, thereby increasing the focal length of the lens and facilitating the imaging.
It is preferable that the inner diameter of the circumferential reflecting area of the rear part of the lens is greater than the outer diameter of the central transmitting area of the rear part of the lens, and that the inner diameter of the circumferential reflecting area is connected to the outer diameter of the central transmitting area via an inclined surface. This structure allows the lens to be manufactured by injection molding.
Thus, the single lens is manufactured by forming the two reflecting surfaces and the two transmitting surfaces from a single material by injection molding.
The transmitting area of the rear part of the lens is formed concave such that the inclined surface converges forward about the optical axis.
This geometry intended to prevent light from the circumferential transmitting area (second surface) of the front part of the lens from arriving at a sensor directly through the transmitting area (fifth surface) of the rear part of the lens.
The inclined surface is coated with a light-blocking means, such as a black lacquer or a black bond, in order to prevent light that has passed through the circumferential transmitting area of the front part of the lens from passing through the inclined surface, thereby preventing unnecessary light such as a flare.
The inclined surface may be stepped in order to improve the light-blocking ability, thereby improving imaging performance.
In particular, the telephoto lens system according to the present invention is characterized in that, in light bundles emitted from the object on the optical axis, a ray of light propagating at a height corresponding to 90% of the effective diameter is directed satisfying the following relationship: |ang3|>|ang4|x2 , where ang3 indicates the angle of light reflected from the reflecting area of the rear part with respect to the optical axis, and ang4 indicates the angle of light reflected from the reflecting area of the front part with respect to the optical axis.
Specifically, as illustrated in
In this case, the ang3 indicates the angle of the light reflected from the third surface with respect to the optical axis, and the ang4 indicates the angle of the light reflected from the fourth surface with respect to the optical axis. The angle ang3 is set at least two times the angle ang4. When these conditions are satisfied, a long focal length can be realized.
The telephoto lens system according to the present invention is configured such that the length from the summit of the front surface of the lens to the imaging surface, i.e. the total optical track length (TTL), and the focal length f satisfy the following relationship: TTL/f<0. 4, thereby enabling the focal length to be significantly greater than the length of the entire lens system. The long focal length obtains the unique function of q telephoto lens while reducing the length of the entire lens system, thereby enabling a high-performance telephoto lens system.
In addition, in a telephoto lens system, one to three rear lenses may be disposed on the optical axis at the rear of the central transmitting area of the rear part of the lens in order to further improve imaging performance.
The rear lens may be fitted into the concave portion in the central transmitting area of the rear part of the lens. More specifically, the shape of the rear lens may correspond to the shape of the inclined surface such that the rear lens is engaged with the inclined surface, thereby further reducing the length of the lens system considering the focal length.
In addition, it is preferable that the lens used in this telephoto lens system is formed of a plastic material. It is also preferable that the rear lens is formed of a plastic material.
At least one surface of the rear lens forms an aspheric lens, thereby improving the imaging performance of the circumferential portion.
As described above, according to the present invention, a single lens has a plurality of transmitting areas and a plurality of the reflecting areas in order to reduce the length of the entire lens system while increasing the focal length. The angle of light with respect to the optical axis is controlled to facilitate the imaging. The performance of the optical system is improved, and the size of the entire optical system is reduced.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
As illustrated in
Table 1 below presents data about the lens constituting an optical system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in
where an aspherical surface is a curved surface produced by rotating a curved line obtained from the aspherical equation of Formula 1 around the optical axis, R is a radius of curvature, K is a conic constant, and A, B, C, D, E, and F are aspherical coefficients.
Aspherical coefficients having data of each of the above-mentioned lenses obtained from Formula 1 are presented in Table 2 below.
Table 3 below presents the angle of view, height of image, focal length f, TTL, and TTL/f of the lens system according to the first embodiment. A high-performance telephoto lens with the focal length being at least three times the length of the entire lens system can be provided.
When referring to
Referring to
Second data in
Third data in
As illustrated in
Table 4 below presents data about the lens constituting an optical system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in
In Formula 1, an aspherical surface is a curved surface produced by rotating a curved line obtained from the aspherical equation of Formula 1 around the optical axis, R is a radius of curvature, K is a conic constant, and A, B, C, D, E, and F are asbnerical coefficients.
Aspherical coefficients having data of each of the above-mentioned lenses obtained from Formula 1 are presented in Table 5 below.
Table 6 below presents the angle of view, height of image, focal length f, TTL, and TTL/f of the lens system according to the second embodiment. A high-performance telephoto lens with the focal length being at least three times the length of the entire lens system can be provided.
When referring to
Referring to
Second data in
Third data in
As Illustrated in
Table 7 below presents data about the lens constituting an optical system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in
In Formula 1, an aspherical surface is a curved surface produced by rotating a curved line obtained from the aspherical equation of Formula 1 around the optical axis, R is a radius of curvature, K is a conic constant, and A, B, C, D, E, and F are aspherical coefficients.
Aspherical coefficients having data of each of the above-mentioned lenses obtained from Formula 1 are presented in Table 8 below.
Table 9 below presents the angle of view, height of image, focal length f, TTL, and TTL/f of the lens system according to the first embodiment. A high-performance telephoto lens with the focal length being at least three times the length of the entire lens system can be provided.
When refrying to
Referring to
Second data in
Third data in
As illustrated in
Table 10 below presents data about the lens constituting an optical system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in
In Formula 1, an aspherical surface is a curved surface produced by rotating a curved line obtained from the aspherical equation of Formula 1 around the optical axis, R is a radius of curvature, K is a conic constant, and A, B, C, D, E, and F are aspherical coefficients.
Aspherical coefficients having data of each of the above-mentioned lenses obtained from Formula 1 are presented in Table 11 below.
Table 12 below presents the angle of view, height of image, focal length f, TTL, and TTL/f of the lens system according to the fourth embodiment. A high-performance telephoto lens system with the focal length being at least three times the length of the entire lens system can be provided.
When referring to FIG. 1, in the lens (first lens) according to the fourth embodiment, H2 at a height corresponding to 90% of the effective diameter of the front part of the lens (first lens) is 2.76 mm, ang3 is 34.6°, ang4 is 9.2°, and ang3/ang4 is 3.8.
Referring to
Second data in
Third data in
As set forth above, the telephoto lens system according to embodiments of the invention has a plurality of reflecting areas and a plurality of transmitting areas in a single lens. The geometry and dimensions of the reflecting areas and the transmitting areas are defined to provide a focal length such that the ratio of the total optical track length (TTL) with respect to focal length f is smaller than 0.4 (TTL/f<0.4), wherein a small but high-definition telephoto lens system can be provided.
In particular, the lens is designed such that, in light bundles emitted from an object on the optical axis, a ray of light propagating at a height corresponding to 90% of the effective diameter is directed satisfying the following relationship: |ang3|>|ang4|×2 , where ang3 indicates the angle of light reflected from the reflecting area of the rear part with respect to the optical axis, and ang4 indicates the angle of light reflected from the reflecting area of the front part with respect to the optical axis. The telephoto lens system has an increased focal length while having superior spherical aberration, astigmatism, and distortion, which lead to superior imaging performance and high definition.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2014-0193656 | Dec 2014 | KR | national |