Aperture

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.

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 deliberately 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 a telescope, for example, 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 summedNicholas Eaton, Peter W. Draper & Alasdair Allan, Techniques of aperture photometry in PHOTOM -- A Photometry Package, 20th August 2002.

Application

The aperture stop is an extremely important element in most optical designs. Its most obvious feature is that it limits the amount of light that can reach the image 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 that 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. Outside the angle of view, a field stop may become the aperture stop, causing vignetting; vignetting is only a problem if it happens inside the desired field of view.

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.

Aperture diagram.png|right|thumb|350px|Diagram of decreasing aperture sizes (increasing f-numbers) for "full stop" increments (factor of two aperture area per stop)]]

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.

Aperture priority refers to a shooting mode used in semi-automatic cameras. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the correct shutter speed. 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. For example, the Canon EF 70-200mm lens has a maximum aperture of and a minimum aperture of 32.

The maximum aperture tends to be of most interest; it is known as the lens speed and is always included when describing a lens (e.g., 100-400mm 5.6, or 70-200mm 2.8).

A typical lens will have an f-number range from 16 (small aperture) to 2 (large aperture) (these values vary). Professional lenses for 35mm cameras can have f-numbers as low as 1.0, while professional lenses for some movie cameras can have f-numbers as low as 0.75 (very large relative aperture). These are known as "fast" lenses because they allow much more light to reach the film and therefore reduce the required exposure time. Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon is notable for having the largest aperture in film history: 0.7.

Large aperture prime lenses (lenses which have a fixed focal length) are favored especially by photojournalists who often work in dim light, have no opportunity to introduce supplementary lighting, and need to capture fast breaking events.

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, 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 to keep the effective aperture proportional to focal length at long focal lengths; 3.5 to 5.6 would be typical.

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.

History

Aperture was defined in the 1707 edition of Thomas Blount's famous Glossographia Anglicana NovaBLOUNT, Thomas, Glossographia Anglicana Nova: Or, A Dictionary, Interpreting Such Hard Words of whatever Language, as are at present used in the English Tongue, wiht their Etymologies, Definitions, &c. Also, The Terms of Divinity, Law, Physick, Mathematics, History, Agriculture, Logick, Metaphysicks, Grammar, Poetry, Musick, Heraldry, Architecture, Painting, War, and all other Arts and Sciences are herein explain'd, from the best Modern Authors, as, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Harris, Dr. Gregory, Mr. Lock, Mr. Evelyn, Mr. Dryden, Mr. Blunt, &c., London, 1707., and possibly in earlier editions, thusly:

The eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (now in the public domain) has this historically interesting passage in the lens section of the photography article:

More related history is found in the article on f-number.

References

External links

Photographic terms | Geometrical optics | physical optics | Observational astronomy

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