Welcome to The Optical Wizard

Navitar's online expert for lens specification - providing accurate solutions for your optical applications.

Selecting the right lens for your application doesn't have to be complicated. Navitar's Optical Wizard accurately matches lenses to meet the specific requirements of your Machine Vision application. This innovative and patent-pending tool automates the complex process of specifying lenses by generating basic and customized solutions from your input - within minutes.

Simply provide the Wizard with a few key pieces of information:

• Camera format/sensor size
• Pixel size
• Largest and smallest dimension of object
• Working distance
• Type of camera mount



Your data is quickly assessed and the Wizard displays:

• Equipment suggestions
• Operating parameters (working distance, field coverage, resolution and magnification ranges)
• Images and outline drawings

Need more customization for your solution? Click "Customize It". The Wizard offers a step-by-step process for adding equipment features to create a solution tailored to your specific needs.

The Optical Wizard is available 24/7 to help you find the best lens for your machine vision application.

Part of the wizard's mission is to provide you with the ability to learn the background of some of the technology involved in your vision system. Whenever you see the question mark , clicking on it will assist in answering the questions or add to your background knowledge of the subject.

Camera Format / Sensor Size

If you have a standard camera, click on the appropriate button, if not click "other" and either fill in the line scan length or the vertical and horizontal dimensions of your particular sensor.

Pixel Size

The wizard assumes your sensor has 10 micron (0.01mm) pixels, and will give you resolution data based on this value. If your application is resolution critical, change the 0.01 to your particular value. If the camera manufacturer does not specify your pixel value, fill in the number of vertical pixels, or line scan pixels, and the wizard will calculate it for you. If critical resolution is not an issue, let the default "ride".

Largest Dimension

Fill in the largest dimension of your object. For a 10mm X 15mm object the number would be 15. For a 25mm diameter circle, it would be 25. The wizard will fit this dimension onto the vertical size (or line scan length) of the sensor, thereby establishing the magnification (field of view) requirements.

Smallest Dimension

Fill in the smallest dimension you want to resolve. The default value is 50 microns (0.050). If you are looking for 2 microns, change the value to .002. The wizard does not use this value in selecting equipment, but it will show you the comparison between this number and the various results of the selection process.

Working Distance

Fill in your desired working distance. Except in isolated instances, the wizard will not use this as criteria, but will display the comparison between requested and actual results.

Camera Configuration

Fill in your particular camera configuration. Most common are the C-mount and F-mount. Some of the smaller cameras use the CS-mount which may be converted for use with a C-mount lens by adding a 5mm spacer. However, there is no way to use a CS-lens on a C-mount camera, as the flange distance is too short to reach the sensor.

Product lines versus features

For product lines, the default is "all lens families" and all of the features are available. The wizard knows which features are applicable to each product line and will not look at a line that does not fit your feature requirement.

If no features are clicked, the wizard will give you all equipment that meets the magnification (field of view) requirements. Two special cases are telecentricity and fluorescence. Here, the wizard will not offer these product lines unless the features are requested. The "all lens families" selection will provide the broadest range of available equipment options.

Clicking on a specific product line will highlight the available features for that product line and pre-check any built-in features. This is a quick way of determining which lines offer which features. The wizard will not permit matching features with incompatible equipment.

Most vision system restrictions revolve around magnification and sensor size. This may be compounded when coaxial illumination is involved. The wizard will issue a warning if the combination of equipment inputs and requested features are incompatible.

Results Page

After entering all you specifications, click on the "recommended solutions" button. The resulting page will list your inputs at the top followed by a list a few, many, or no, applicable series of equipment. Most applications will come close to your magnification (field of view) requirements. Working distances will vary with the equipment. List prices, exclusive of modifications, indicate the relative investment.
If you get a "no match" statement, it means the wizard can't find an appropriate combination. Generally, the sensor is too large (diagonal of an area sensor, or length of a line scan) or the magnification is out-of-range. If you have selected a specific product line, the critical criteria will be listed on the page and you can compare it to your requested values, and adjust as necessary.

Customize It Pages

Pick the equipment line and respective solution that best meets your need and click on "customize it" at the bottom of the chosen solution. You will be directed thru a series of pages where you will be given choices in configuration. At each decision point, there will be a question mark to both enlighten and aid you in your selection, if so needed.

Product List

At the end of this process will be a final product page. It will again list your inputs. It will also list the results of the equipment selection customization, and final prices. At the bottom will be the comparison of requested versus actual operating parameters. For visualization, you may click on the part number in the "image" column to see a representation. This page may be printed for your records.

Placing an Order

If you are satisfied with the results, you have the option to "add to the cart" and all the items selected will be automatically added to an online shopping cart. If you would prefer you can also select the "buy locally" button and be directed to an online search feature to aid you in sourcing a favorite dealer near you.

Starting Over

If you click on the Optical Wizard logo at the top of the page, you will be returned to the beginning, where you may change your inputs or keep the same inputs and select a different product line to customize.