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The focal point F and focal length f of a positive (convex) lens, a negative (concave) lens, a concave mirror, and a convex mirror.. The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power.
Lenses are characterized by their focal length: a converging lens has positive focal length, while a diverging lens has negative focal length. Smaller focal length indicates that the lens has a stronger converging or diverging effect. The focal length of a simple lens in air is given by the lensmaker's equation. [44]
where is the focal length, is the distance from the lens to the object, and = as the distance of the object with respect to the front focal point. A sign convention is used such that d 0 {\textstyle d_{0}} and d i {\displaystyle d_{i}} (the image distance from the lens) are positive for real object and image, respectively, and negative for ...
If the medium surrounding an optical system has a refractive index of 1 (e.g., air or vacuum), then the distance from each principal plane to the corresponding focal point is just the focal length of the system. In the more general case, the distance to the foci is the focal length multiplied by the index of refraction of the medium.
The focal ratio of a telescope is defined as the focal length of an objective divided by its diameter or by the diameter of an aperture stop in the system. The focal length controls the field of view of the instrument and the scale of the image that is presented at the focal plane to an eyepiece , film plate, or CCD .
For concave mirrors, whether the image is virtual or real depends on how large the object distance is compared to the focal length. If the 1 / f {\displaystyle 1/f} term is larger than the 1 / d o {\displaystyle 1/d_{\mathrm {o} }} term, then 1 / d i {\displaystyle 1/d_{\mathrm {i} }} is positive and the image is real.
The focal length f is considered negative for concave lenses. Incoming parallel rays are focused by a convex lens into an inverted real image one focal length from the lens, on the far side of the lens. Incoming parallel rays are focused by a convex lens into an inverted real image one focal length from the lens, on the far side of the lens
For the popular 35 mm film format, typical focal lengths of fisheye lenses are 8–10 mm for circular images, and 12–18 mm for diagonal images filling the entire frame. For digital cameras using smaller imagers such as 1/4 in and 1/3 in format CCD or CMOS sensors, the focal length of "miniature" fisheye lenses can be as short as 1–2 mm.