In an
optical system, the entrance pupil is the optical image of the physical
aperture stop, as 'seen' through the front (the object side) of the lens system. The corresponding image of the aperture as seen through the back of the lens system is called the
exit pupil. If there is no lens in front of the aperture (as in a
pinhole camera), the entrance pupil's location and size are identical to those of the aperture. Optical elements in front of the aperture will produce a
magnified or diminished image that is displaced from the location of the physical aperture. The entrance pupil is usually a
virtual image
In optics, an ''image'' is defined as the collection of focus points of light rays coming from an object. A '' real image'' is the collection of focus points made by converging rays, while a virtual image is the collection of focus points ma ...
: it lies behind the first optical surface of the system.
The geometric location of the entrance pupil is the
vertex
Vertex, vertices or vertexes may refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics and computer science
*Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, or edges meet
*Vertex (computer graphics), a data structure that describes the position ...
of the camera's
angle of view and consequently its center of perspective, perspective point, view point, projection centre
or no-parallax point.
This point is important in
panoramic photography, because the camera must be rotated around it in order to avoid
parallax errors in the final,
stitched panorama. Panoramic photographers often incorrectly refer to the entrance pupil as a
nodal point
In Gaussian optics, the cardinal points consist of three pairs of points located on the optical axis of a rotationally symmetric, focal, optical system. These are the '' focal points'', the principal points, and the nodal points. For ''ideal'' ...
, which is a different concept. Depending on the lens design, the entrance pupil location on the optical axis may be behind, within or in front of the lens system; and even at infinite distance from the lens in the case of
telecentric systems.
In photography, the size of the entrance pupil (rather than the size of the physical aperture itself) is used to calibrate the opening and closing of the
diaphragm aperture. The
f-number ("relative aperture"), ''N'', is defined by ''N = f/E
N'', where ''f'' is the
focal length
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. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foc ...
and ''E''
N is the diameter of the entrance pupil. Increasing the focal length of a lens (i.e., zooming in) will usually cause the f-number to increase, and the entrance pupil location to move further back along the optical axis.
The entrance pupil of the human
eye, which is not quite the same as the physical
pupil, is typically about 4 mm in diameter. It can range from 2 mm () in a very brightly lit place to 8 mm () in the dark.
[{{cite book , first=Eugene, last=Hecht, year=1987, title=Optics, edition=2nd, publisher=Addison Wesley, isbn=0-201-11609-X]
See also
*
Exit pupil
*
Transmittance
*
Pupil magnification
References
External links
Stops and Pupilsin ''Field Guide to Geometrical Optics'' Greivenkamp, John E, 2004
Optics
Science of photography