Zowie! New Edmund Optics Knowledge Center

Seldom does something really significant pop up in an incoming mass email, but...wow!

This morning I got an email from Edmund Optics of Barrington, New Jersey, that simply reads:

Master all things optics and imaging using the new Edmund Optics^® Knowledge Center! This page allows you to easily and seamlessly explore our extensive technical library of application notes, videos, technical tools, and more. Resources can be sorted by 90 different topics to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

Holy Cow! Turns out the EO Knowledge Center is loaded with tutorials about all sorts of topics relating to optics. It's still in beta, so they're looking for feedback. Well, my initial feedback is that I think I'm going to have fun at that library. (Oh, and can they pretty please do one on why "equivalent aperture" is not even a real thing? Thenk-yew.)

Anyway, what a great idea and what a nice service. See for yourself: here's the link to the new EO Knowledge Center.

Mike

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Comments

[Michael J. Perini]

Edmunds is a wonderful company that started out serving amateur astronomers with products of their own manufacture , military surplus ( a big deal back in the day) as well as other interesting stuff. I built my first telescopes with their parts and products.
Along the way they created Edmund Optics and began manufacturing all kinds of highly sophisticated optical products.
They have always had an educational bent , but this new service looks great
Thanks

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

As a gen x sceptic, my first reaction is to ask myself why they are doing this and how it is funded. Not that I’m suggesting there is anything duplicitous in this instance, but, you know, profit driven companies.
It does look interesting, and there’s probably more than I ever need to know as a hobbyist. Looking forward to geeking out on some technical explanations :)
Thanks Mike.

[robert e]

That's pretty impressive. For me, though, it's pretty wonderful just to know that Edmund Optics and Edmund Scientific are still around. Pretty sure I was at the surplus store in New Jersey at least once, but I remember almost nothing about it because my teenage science nerd mind was so blown.

[Chip McDaniel]

Is this the same corporation that was Edmund Scientific, which put out a great catalog of surplus and other optical, electronic and other equipment back in the 60's and 70's (i.e., when dinosaurs still walked the
earth)? It was great and inspired many Walter Mitty style projects.

[Chip McDaniel]

Cancel my earlier comment. It is the same company, explained in the "Company/Timeline" tab on the site. Great to see that they adapted and are still in business.

[Speed]

This is like finding a long lost friend.

Welcome to Edmund Scientific!
Since 1942, Edmund Optics® has been inspiring the next generation of students to become interested in science and engineering through its thought-provoking catalog of optics, scientific experiments, and learning tools.
https://www.edmundscientific.com/

In 1942, amateur photographer Norman W. Edmund (1916 - 2012) found it hard to find lenses he needed for his hobby. This led him to advertise lenses for sale in photography magazines. It was so successful he founded "'Edmund Salvage Corporation'". It soon changed its name to Edmund Scientific and made its name with ads in publications like Scientific American as a supplier of chipped lenses, war-surplus optics, and low cost scientific gadgetry. Its advertisements caught the attention of hobbyists, amateur astronomers, high school students, and cash-strapped researchers.

Edmund Scientific was part of the post-World War II "war surplus" phenomenon … Edmund was, however, the only widely known supplier of surplus optics.

The core of Edmund's offerings was surplus lenses. These were single-element lenses, shipped in 2.5-by-4.25-inch (64 mm × 108 mm) coin envelopes, with the approximate diameter and focal length stenciled on them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Scientific_Corporation

They've come a long way, baby!

[Kodachromeguy]

Equivalent aperture? Oh gawd, that crap still floats about the blogosphere? Well, maybe these tutorials can finally make it go away forever.

[James Bullard]

RE: Equivalent aperture. Well yes, if you put a lens designed for a MF or LF camera on a smaller camera you aren't using all the capacity of that lens because the image circle spills way beyond the edges of the sensor. You may well be getting degradation due to that excess light bouncing around inside the camera. So, why would you want to use a lens not designed for the format you are using and spend your time figuring out how to to make it perform like a lens that was designed for the format you are using?

[Jim Henry]

Is this the evolution of the old Edmund Scientific?

I used to order cheap stuff when I was a kid from them.

One thing was a heat sensitive (I think) transparency medium that would copy a b&w negative to a nice positive sepia-toned transparency, suitable for slide projection. Magic! I still have a few, I think.

[Bill]

The Zeiss article on depth of field and bokeh linked to in a comment on a previous post

https://lenspire.zeiss.com/photo/app/uploads/2018/04/Article-Bokeh-2010-EN.pdf

deals nicely with f-number equivalence. See page 10 in particular. But at 45 pages the article is likely TL;DR for many, so I guess we need a simple video.

[marcin wuu]

It is though. A thing I mean. You just have to prioritise depth of field in your photographic endeavours, and suddenly it's all about equivalent apertures.
I shoot three formats, usually at least two simultaneously - 6x8,6x6 and 135 - juggling equivalent aperture values became my second nature.

[David Fultz]

In Safari, hold down the Option key and click on the File menu. Select Close Other Tabs.

:-)

Dave