The new FUJINON HF-XA lenses from Fujifilm offer a consistently high resolution across the entire sensor surface, regardless of changing work distances and aperture settings. FUJIFILM Europe GmbH has announced the new Fujinon HF-XA lens series, which consists of five models and represents an addition to the company’s range of machine vision lenses. The lenses are distributed by imaging experts FRAMOS.
Machine vision systems need to capture high quality images and support high process speeds, in order to increase efficiency and meet stricter quality standards in industrial manufacturing and automation. To fulfil these requirements, camera manufacturers rely on large sensors, high resolutions and increasing frame rates. The lenses that are used in the cameras also have to meet these growing requirements in order to maintain the quality of the overall system.
The new HF-XA lenses from Fujinon support resolutions of 3 megapixels for 2/3″ sensor formats, and deliver sharp images from the centre of the image to the edge of the sensor. The models with focal lengths of 8 mm, 12 mm, 16 mm and 25 mm support apertures F1.6 to F16 and MOD 100 mm. The 35 mm model is suitable for apertures F1.9 to F16 and MOD 200 mm. All the models in the HF-XA series can resolve pixels up to a size of 4.4 µm.
Stephanie Zahner, Line Manager for Fujinon at FRAMOS, explains: “The FUJINON HF-XA series consists of five high-resolution, fixed focal length lenses with focal lengths between 8 mm and 35 mm. The resolution capacity of 3 megapixels is consistent across the whole image surface, both when the aperture is open in difficult light conditions and when the work distances change. This allows the lenses to be used for a range of different applications, whilst ensuring consistent image quality. The lenses are extremely compact, with a diameter of just 29.5 mm. This makes them much smaller than those in most machine vision cameras and helps to reduce the size of the overall system. In addition, the lenses each have three mounting holes for locking screws for the aperture and the focus ring to make installation easier in tight spaces.”
Fujifilm is one of the pioneers in the development of optical technologies. Fujifilm’s Fujinon lenses are the result of continuous research, decades of experience and the highest standards of quality. They are known around the world for innovation and reliability in applications such as TV and films, binoculars, CCTV and industrial imaging and custom-made optical components used in digital projectors or driver assistance systems in cars, for example.
Figure 1: The results of the MTF measurement, based on the slanted edge method. The lens was measured at MOD with the maximum aperture (F = 1.6). A measurement in the centre of the image (green) is compared with a measurement at the edge of the image (red). The camera has a standard pixel size of 5.86 µm. Even when the aperture is opened, the lens has a consistent and very high resolution across the entire area of the image. This means that users can expect excellent results even with smaller pixels of up to 4.4 µm.
Figure 2: The 12 mm version of the lens was measured in the FRAMOS laboratory with a camera from the Smartek GCP range. The blue boxes indicate the two areas that were measured with the slanted edge method.
