First and foremost, if you aren’t at least a little Geeky, this post is not for you. Unless you’re one of those people who thinks ‘just take some pictures, dammit’ when I write some article about resolution testing. In that case, you might like this article because we’re taking pictures to test lenses. Sort of.
For the last 18 months or so I’ve been on a Holy Quest, trying to find better ways to optically analyze and adjust bad lenses. Why? Partly because we need to. Factory service just can’t seem to return some lenses to proper optical adjustment. Partly because some smug people told me I could never learn how to do that, which, of course, made me really, really want to.
I can use any of several tools we have to generate MTF charts that tell me the lens is decentered. But those don’t tell me in what way the lens is decentered. More importantly, when we optically adjust a lens, those MTF charts tell me it’s better or worse, but not exactly how it’s better or worse.
We discussed things with some very high-power optical consultants who said exactly what many photographers have been saying all along. The numbers don’t tell you everything; you need a picture. That led to some meetings with the fine engineers at Optikos, who manufactured a machine to do what we wanted.
Assembly
If you don’t geek out on some fun assembly photos, then you can just skip on down to the next section to see what this thing does.
The Optikos crate arrived on Monday. We were allowed to open it, but not allowed to touch anything, so all we really had was a pile of boxes. This is the Geek version of Christmas Eve – all those packages under the ISO 12233 chart.
On Tuesday morning, bright and early, Brian, our assembly engineer from Optikos arrived. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work. Actually, he talked pretty much nonstop.
Aaron and I were pretty excited when he said we could help. Then we found out he meant we could help lift the heavy stuff into place and hold it while he bolted it in.
These little collimator-lens-camera assemblies each cost about what a 500mm f/4 lens costs. We weren’t allowed to touch those either.
I felt just like the people online who say “For that much money it should come out of the box perfect”, when Brian set up his focus collimator to calibrate each of those assemblies. Actually I didn’t. I was more like a toddler on a car trip repeating, “How long until we get there?” every 5 minutes.
I also learned if you put your hands anywhere near an engineer’s tools you get ‘that look’.
And discovered if you ask them what they are doing, they respond in what I believe is Vulcan or Martian. Even Aaron didn’t understand him.
At this point about the only thing we were sure of was our machine had some cool wheels on it. They looked like they came off the bulkhead doors of a miniature submarine.
And we did get tool revenge. See all Brian’s hex keys? Guess what? There was one size he didn’t have so had to borrow it from us. Of course we made him grovel. Just a bit, though, we wanted this thing working.
Sometime, after what seemed like several days, the third collimator was installed and everything wired up.
Joey came by during the instruction phase and had a pertinent question that Aaron and I hadn’t thought to ask. With all that precision-laser-collimation-measure-to-the-arc-second stuff, what, exactly was the purpose of that big mallet?
And we should have known. Brian brought his personal 24-105 f/4 to use as the first lens tested. It wasn’t quite as sharp as he had hoped.
We had to optically adjust his lens before we could shove him aside to confirm that our new toy could handle big lenses with aplomb. Then we were off to the races.
So What Does That Thing Do, Anyway?
Basically, we are shining collimated (infinity) light through 5-micron pinhole reticles so we can see how the lens renders tiny points of light. Nothing shows aberrations like a pinhole light. The three collimators let us look at three positions, one in the center and two off-axis. The angle of the outer two collimators can be adjusted so we can see different distances away from the center. The lens mount can be rotated so we can look at the lens through a full 360 degrees.
Want to see some pictures? Of course you do! (Well, if you read this far you do.) But I’ll warn you first: this type of testing shows way more flaws, even in the best of lenses, than you probably want to know exist. It’s far more sensitive than any other form of testing we’ve tried. So if you enjoy the fantasy that lenses are perfect, you don’t want to see this.
Let’s start with a screen capture of a nearly as-good-as-it-gets lens, a good copy of the Zeiss 50mm f/2 macro. The bottom screen shows the center point, the left upper screen the left edge, and the right upper screen the right middle 1/3 of the lens. Obviously the outer points don’t look nearly as good as the center, but in a photograph they’re still very good. Remember, that pinhole is 5 microns wide; for most cameras that’s smaller than a pixel.
For something a little more fun, the next images are the center captures of Brian’s 24-105 at 105mm, which he thought was a little softer than it should be. On top is his lens when we first tested it on the machine. We adjusted it optically and the bottom screen shows how it looked after adjustment.
We like numbers, of course, so we tested his lens on our Imatest lab before and after the adjustment. Below you can see the MTF 50 of the lens before (on top) and after (bottom) adjustment.
Is that difference something you could see in images? Absolutely — he immediately noticed the difference. By our standards, the original Imatest results would have failed – we wouldn’t have considered the lens rentable. The results on the bottom are better than average. Most importantly for us, we did the adjustment in real time. Adjusting our old way involved taking a picture, making an adjustment, then taking another picture. An repeating that 20 to 40 times. Now we could actually watch the pinhole images change in real time as we made each adjustment, taking one picture for confirmation when we were done.
Just for another example, here are the images for a 100mm f/2.8 IS L macro that had failed our standard optical testing, with the original center pinhole above, and the image after adjustment below.
And the Imatest numbers before and after – note the improvement along the left side.
While this isn’t designed to be a screening or testing tool, some comparisons are kind of interesting. For example here is a Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus showing the center point at the bottom and extreme left and right edges above.
Compare it to a 50mm f/1.4 Canon that was optically good (I told you this kind of thing would make you a bit queasy).
Jut to show the difference, below is a Canon 50mm f/1.4 that was badly decentered.
So, Is It the Holy Grail of Lens Adjustment?
Nope. There isn’t one of those. And we’ve only begun learning how to best use it.
There are certain lenses that this piece of equipment can’t help us adjust. Other lenses just can’t be adjusted (there are no compensating elements). Of course, there are a lot more that we just haven’t reverse-engineered the adjusting process for.
But it certainly will allow us to do adjustments more accurately and effectively than we’ve been able to do. I suspect we’ll find some other uses. It’s really fun to look at the images as we front and backfocus the lens, for example. That gives great information about longitudinal color aberrations and what bokeh may look like in the foreground and background.
After a few months of collecting data we’ll have a lot better idea of just how capable this method is. Plus, I’ve already got a couple of improvements to the machine in mind.
In the meantime, though, this thing needs a name. Optikos calls it the VARS – I forgot what the acronym was; something like Vertical Alignment Roger Special. But we need a better name than that. So lets have a contest. Leave a comment suggesting a better name, preferably an acronym. The winner gets … . how about the lens of his choice tested on Imatest or our MTF bench and this machine? Or we could give you a bunch of scratched lens elements, or something geeky like that.
Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz
Lensrentals.com
March, 2014
715 Comments
Chris Ramsey ·
How about:
OPTIC-Optical Purity Testing Is Ciiiiiicc
😀
Alberto ·
There is only one possible solution: SLAM, which stands for Sharkless Laserless Awesome Machine!
RussellInCincinnati ·
The Star Chamber
also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCe1pHqP06A
Joseph ·
Well this looks pretty awesome. Can I volunteer my lenses as tribute yet?
Also, I think calling it the Astraeus might be appropriate (a little Greek mythology here, but Astraeus was titan of the stars and planets, as well as the art of lens divination/astrology).
Rob Murray ·
Ok I am in awe of the machine and have an official entry for the name.
The R.O.G.E.R. machine. It stands for:
R. Real-time
O. Optical
G. Geeky
E. Evaluation
R. Re-centerer
Tony ·
The Lens Whisperer
Franck Mée ·
As the regular GNU/Linux guy, I love recursive acronyms, so I say ROGER: Roger’s Optical Gear Extreme Recenterer. And if you think “recenterer” is not a word, then maybe CICALA : Cicala’s Insanely Complex Apparatus for Lens Alignment.
James Sinks ·
Roger Cicollimator.
Siming ·
Two questions Roger:
Why is there an array of dots, instead of just a single dot for each picture?
At 8 microns, wouldn’t the pinhole cause diffraction?
Jose ·
ROCCO – ROger Cicala & his COmets
Mike ·
The ANAL-izer?
Henrique Coelho ·
The evil eye basilisk!
It kills any lens it comes in contact with…just a look at!
Reflections of his test pictures can even kill obsessed fan-boys or any other who are blind to the reality but not to pixel piping!!! 😉
PS: my first post, but i cannot thank you enough for your UNbiased civil service Roger&team!!!
THANK YOU!!!
Andre Y ·
The Measurebator.
Jeremy ·
Inifini-tron-inator
or if you need an acronym
Lens
Uber
Collimation
Yeoman
Tied to “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”
Till ·
Probably not geeky enough, but since this maschine literally creates a complete new world of lens assessment, what about GENESIS:
a) GEnerating New Exciting (in)Sights Into (lens) Sharpness or
b) Gaining Elementary New Exciting inSights Into lens Sharpness.
Lenny ·
The Lens Hammër.
Tortap ·
Just call it the ETLA (extended three letter acronym).
Brian Church ·
I’ve got three suggestions for you Roger:
MALLET: Mis-Aligned Lens Light Emitting Tweaker
SCHARF: Scharf Can Help Roger & Aaron Fixit
GLASS: Goobered Lens Adjusts to Super Sharp
Can I send my 24-70 in for adjustment now? 🙂
Bob Pettit ·
BLURGONE
Best Lenses Use Roger’s Geeky Optiko’s Nifty Equipment
Alton ·
Special
Columnated
Handy
Optical
Tuning
Tester
With any luck, it’ll make your dog a lot of money 😉
Franck Mée ·
Now, I have a new proposition:
Apparatus for Laser Impulse Collimated Emission, Sent in Refractive Elements System for True Assurance of Uniform Rigorous Alignment in No Time.
I even got the tagline if you ever want to sell it: “You can set any lens you want in Alicesrestaurant.”
Pat Ferguson ·
Could you repeat that…
Darin McQuoid ·
With this you could create a nice side income realigning lenses for people. It would create endless business as UPS bangs them around when return shipping..the endless cycle.
Mr. Funwok ·
Your little new helper, the SHERPA:
See How Exquisite Reflecting Photons Are
————
or the EXPISCATOR (from expiscate;) because this machine needs a name which strikes FEAR into the hear of photography no-good-doers:
Extremely X-perimental Photograhpy Instrument – Severe Counter Argument To Optical Recreants
Lasse Beyer ·
I’d simply call it “Interocitor”.
Or “MST 3000″…
like “My Sexiest Toy” or “Mighty Superior Tester”.
Nick ·
New
illuminated
esoteric
photography
collimating
equipment
or the Niepce
Brandon Harris ·
I shall call him TODD
The Optical Decenter(ing/ization) Detector
Please let me know where to ship my lens for measurement and adjustment. 😉
Brandon Harris ·
Hey? Is this thing on?! I tried to leave a comment, not sure it went through. At the risk of being that double-posting guy..
TODD
The Optical Decenter(ing/ization) Detector
I don’t know if decenter is a word but I don’t care. I was just a born rule-breaker.
Frank Kolwicz ·
I don’t care what you call it, I want my 600L tested and adjusted with it! And that’s worth some money to me, too.
I vote for the G(r)eek Titan Astraeus: the name has power!
John ·
Who said toys r us is a store
WSTRUIAS, Pronounced “was tre us”
Giklab ·
The GruntMaster 9000.
John Krumm ·
Oh I so want to send you my favorite landscape lens that has become a little soft in the upper left.
Think… think… might have to come back later. For now, OLGA: Optical Lens Glass Awesomizer.
Perry ·
Call it the Heifetz because it makes everything else feel inadequate.
Also, it’s a suitably geeky name for such a device.
Joseph ·
Oh, forgot to mention that Astraeus is short for Abridged Spectrum Transmitter-Receiver And Epigamic Uranography Synthesizer.
Carlos Diaz ·
Nice, and scary.
So, now you can say, “Let’s do a PLAIN test on this lens”
PLAIN (Pinhole Lens Adjustment Is Neat)
or, “Let’s test it with a CLAM” (my favorite).
CLAM (Collimator Lens Adjustment Machine)
Caleb ·
“FUZZ-STOPPER 9000″
Or, ‘F-STOP9k” for short.
Anthony C. Roberts ·
“The Lens Monster”
Tim Ashley ·
I give you the…
Mercilessly Analytical, Light Collimating, Optimising Lens Machine:
Also known as “MALCOLM”.
John ·
I’d name it Thor. It doesn’t stand for anything. It just looks like a Thor to me.
Chris Jankowski ·
Sharpie – Sharpness Heuristc Adjustment Rogers Precision Intuitive Equipment
Jonathan ·
Since someone has already suggested ‘Mallet’, what exactly WAS the mallet used for?
(hopefully not something boring like assembly :P)
Roger Cicala ·
Jonathan – he actually used the mallet to flatten one of the desktop panels that had bent in shipping.
Paul Parkinson ·
MASTERCHEF
Micron Adjustment System Tool Really Clever Holographic Extreme Focusator
Paul Parkinson ·
MASTERCHEF
Micron Adjustment System Tool Really Clever Holographics Extreme Focusator
[Sorry if duplicated]
John Krumm ·
I was going to suggest Large Nerdron Collimator, Nerdron for short, but then I saw that the name Nerdron was claimed by a Youtube show. Perhaps Gaussian Error Elimination Krakenmaster. Just call it “The Kraken” for short. Sure it looks like a sub but wait until the tentacles come out.
Mark K ·
POPS… Pro Optic Perfecting System. Sometimes it just takes an old geezer to get things right.
Chris Perkins ·
Given that the secret of the Enigma code breaking in World War II was called Ultra, and this machine is probably one of the finest devices for finding out the secrets of how each lens performs, how about ULTRA.
Ultimate Lens Testing (&) Research Apparatus
Jeff ·
‘RENTALS’
Roger’s Expensive New Toy Adjusts* Lenses Spectacularly
*Adjusts can replaced by ‘Aligns’ or ‘Assesses’
Jeff ·
Or, as a shorter version….
RENT
Roger’s Expensive New Toy
Donald E. Dunbar Jr. ·
Although all the names are trending towards Geek and acronyms, the reality is that the device should be called by a friendly and appropriate name. The obvious choice is St. Jude. St. Jude is the patron saint of the hopeless and despaired. As the device helps those lenses that are without hope, the name is appropriate.
John ·
I always thought that ‘Gary’ was a nice name.
Pete Myers ·
I would name her “Kali.” K?la primarily means “time” but also means “black” in honor of being the first creation before light itself. K?l? means “the black one” and refers to her being the entity of “time” or “beyond time.” And she has four arms, which will be needed to adjust all those collimators at one time. So you see, it works! Comes out of the dark, before light itself, and has all that is needed to make adjustments to the lens and collimators simultaneously. Besides, every lens will come to fear her and melt into optical goop.
🙂
Pete
PS Roger, you know you are giving us all nightmares. Every lens we own is going to have to see Kali for an adjustment to peak. Get a bigger building. hee hee hee!
Lasse Beyer ·
Plain and simple: The laser pointer.
“HOW exactly do you calibrate your lenses? With a laser pointer??”
Lasse Beyer ·
@Pete, this reminds me of Indiana Jones: “Kali Ma Shakti De!”
SwampYankee ·
If your goal was to make me want to send my lenses for you for calibration you have succeeded. IF your goal was to make me realize that buying and expensive lens is a bit of a crapshoot, you have also succeed. Now I am scared to buy expensive lenses
David Margolin ·
How about “The Preciser”
Peter Bruggemans ·
Hi Roger,
I would like to suggest this:
Roger´s Onerous Collimator Kit – the ROCK
(You are right, i don´t think i want to know the flaws of my No.1 lens, the ef 85mm f/1.8 usm)
Regards,
Peter Bruggemans
theo ·
Is your name not Bruce?
No, it’s VARS.
That’s going to cause a little confusion. Mind if we call you ‘Bruce’ to keep it clear?
Matt C. ·
The Trilobite.
Tiny Round Illuminant Lattice for Optical Boosting In Twisted Elements
(Mandatory forgettable acronym.)
Trilobite: three-lobed arthropods that had, “one of the first sophisticated visual systems in the animal kingdom.”
http://www.trilobites.info/eyes.htm
John Pittman ·
I believe in keeping it relevant and simple:
ANSEL
Advanced New System for Evaluating Lenses
Phil Lurkin ·
Hi Roger!
Amazing post once again, thanks!
My suggestion would be the chair or the gallows since these lenses look like they’ve been sentenced to death because of their lack of resolution. 🙂 Pulverization is near, resistance is futile! lol
Phil
Brian ·
No suggestion on a name but my wife and I owned one of these
http://www.americanfrenchtool.com/
One allen key was all that was required to take that beast apart.
Cristiano M. Uyeno ·
What about Hikaru ? In Japan it’s both a male and a female name . It’s a single Chinese character name which means light .
https://www.google.co.jp/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=MAw2U8L5JKXH8geo8oHICg#q=chinese+character+light
Hence you have 3 laser light beams pointing to the lens .
On the geek side it’s George Takei’s Star Trek’s character Lieutenant Sulu’s first name .
Thanks for all the good information you give us at the Blog .
n/a ·
my entry would be “sextant”
at least ascetically it bears some resemblance, and in all digital age is a nice gadget by it self:D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant
mbanas ·
Well, my first thought is that this image should be stuck on there somewhere:
http://www.mab3d.com/TOtaxians/aliens.jpg
Next, my only name suggestion would be:
ERASMUS (as “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed are king.” or maybe ERASMUS NEED ADJUSTING… either geeky or cheeky, your pick!)
THX723 ·
“BFD-9000” … Big ******* Deal 😉
Clifton Frazier ·
If Bender and a bagpipe had a baby, it would look like that.
TriCLOPS
Triple Collimator Lens Optic Plotting System
P.S. I’m very glad you answered the question about the mallet. Not knowing would have kept me up tonight.
David Braddon-Mitchell ·
Seriously: train people up and you could have a service where people send in their lens, and you adjust and send back with a nice chart. People with pricey lenses would pay a lot…
Brian ·
Call it “Bert” that way if you have another machine delivered you can call it “Ernie”
A Ronald Gallant ·
Roger,
I do not understand how the VARS speeds up adjustment. Don’t you have to test, dissemble the lens, adjust it, reassemble, then test? Is it that VARS tests faster than Imatest?
Ron
Roger Cicala ·
Ron,
We have to disassemble and reassemble. But once disassembled we can do all the adjustments in real time and the optics are tested. Then we reassemble. Depending on the lens, disassembly and reassembly take 30 to 60 minutes. Optical adjustment the old way can take a few hours. This hopefully will reduce the optical adjustment to 30 to 60 minutes.
Daniel Cormier ·
FIREFLY
Flair
Inducing
Reticle
Error
Finding
Luminous
Yoke
Matt ·
Thanks Roger, and Aaron; another terrific article.
MAGGIE-makes adjusting good glass immediately easier. Plus, she was the “Million Dollar Baby”.
Have fun!
Matt
David Smith ·
Damon (the lead singer of Blur)
Mazeyrie ·
CICLOPE
CIcala’s Compensator Lens Optical Precision Eye
Peter ·
Cloudbuster
Your optical testing machine reminds me of the machine built for the Kate Bush music video, loosely based on the real thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudbusting
The optical cloudbuster is clearly more successful than the one designed to produce rain.
Ruy ·
My name is ENVY
George ·
Colin.
As in, Colin the Collimator.
Test case:
“There’s something wrong with this lens, let’s get Colin to check it out.”
“Sir I don’t know what’s wrong with your lens. We’ll get Colin to have a look.”
2c
Stever ·
PAMELA Please Adjust My Expensive Lens Also
By now you must be well aware of the market and I’ve got a couple for you whenever you’re ready.
Globules ·
Hey, I’d also pay a “reasonable” amount to have some lenses tested and adjusted. (Okay, I haven’t yet decided what “reasonable” would be, but that probably works in your favor! 🙂
Ray ·
Call it GAS. We all know what that means.
Sync ·
So, the golden question that many readers are actually interested in, will you start a lens calibration service?
Clay Hamilton ·
So if I send you guys back the lens I bought from you a couple of months ago will you run it through this for me? 🙂
In all seriousness, that was interesting. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Samuel H ·
It looks like something from the Alien movie, so…
ALIEN
Adjusting Lenses Is Easy Now
Samuel H ·
(Easy may be an overstatement, but Easier works too…)
Mike Earussi ·
I want one! I could use all of my lenses tested (and no doubt fixed). Roger, how about you start a new business of fixing lenses, since you probably now have more sophisticated repair equipment than all the other service centers and in the country?
As for a new name for your new toy: “The Miracle Worker,” not only because once you were blind and now you can see, but also because that is exactly what it is compared to your old way of repairing.
And out of curiosity do you mind telling how much it costs (and how long it will take to pay for itself by speeding up repairs)? 🙂
Roger Cicala ·
Mike, think new car cost. New German car near the top end of the model range.
richard ·
How about the X-SPPT for Super Precise Pinhole Tester. Since this is the camera industry, a meaningless X is mandatory.
Peter Bruggemans ·
I read the article for the second time, and I noticed with the adjustment of Brian’s 24-105 that the bottom improved, but at the same time the top went down a bit.
I guess that this is a fact of life in adjustment, and maybe with optics in general: an improvement on one aspect means a degradation on another aspect.
Charlie ·
“Fetzer”
Photonius ·
I suggest PICTUN.
It can be interpreted as Picture Tuning, of course, but there is a much older meaning associated with it in the Maya hieroglyphic language, it refers to a time period of 8000 tuns, (a tun is a period of 360 days). The Maya calendar is very precise and can calculate over huge periods (not just until 2012).
Photonius ·
Regarding PICTUN, there is a Maya Hieroglyph for Pictun, which you could use to label you machine and puzzle visitors….
http://books.google.se/books?id=2Si52W1XTGwC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=pictun+glyph&source=bl&ots=U2gGMxSuay&sig=YrzQdvH-qwLbiLbP-lzJsWByrH8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Oug2U7DVMqet4ASYkIGwCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=pictun%20glyph&f=false
Garret van der Veen ·
‘Lens-Eater’ because no lens in the world comes even close to be a good lens in this rig, hey! another name: The Rig.
btw, my hobby is astrography my ‘lens’ (telescope) is a special F3.6 1440mm focal-lenght Newton.
Photos taken with my Canon 5 Dmk2 shows zero coma/ round stars in the very edge of the corner of the frame, put this lens in The Rig/ Lens-Eater…
Marc ·
The first name for the thing that came to my mind was Cerberus. 😀
There are few things more bad ass than a three-headed hellhound.
(I’d like you to test the hell out of the Nikkor AF 28mm/1.4D, please)
George ·
Hi Roger,
Super post! Fascinating work. Will you be offering a lens testing and adjustment service for out of warranty lenses?
How about this for a name: Ultimate Laser Lens Alignment or “Ulla” for short. If you prefer something more humorous, try Laser Alignment Lens Adjuster or “LaLa” for short 🙂
justin wonnacott ·
“Gort” – the all powerful misunderstood but benevolent robot that emits beams of light from “The day the Earth stood still”
Justin Wonnacott ·
The acronym for Gort might be “good ole Roger’s toy” ….
Richard ·
The “Rogar” – Realtime Optical Grid Adjustment Reticle.
And congrats for such commitment and achievement.
Spencer Cox ·
In honor of your recent post, I would name it NADAR. If anyone asks what it’s for, tell them it’s a “New Adjustment Device, All Right?”
Rupert ·
RAPT
Roger and Aaron’s Play Thing
SwampYankee ·
name=TriceraOPS
mrc4nl ·
Name it HAARP or just HAAR 😛
Haarp sounds geeky enough for me.
Dave M ·
LensTestingThingy
I, too, might be willing to have you test and adjust my lenses. Depends on cost.
John Merlin Williams ·
The Rogerator
Tom Alicoate ·
Good names must meet a few criteria
1. Must be jargon that others will find confusing.
2. Must be easy to say 50 times a day.
3. Must sound harmless to the people who hold the purse strings.
I submit “COLAA”
Collimated Optical Lens Alignment Apparatus
Just think, “Umm yeah I need to get a few Colaas for the guys in testing.”
How could anyone say no to that?
Have fun with your new toy.
Tom
brandon ·
I hope you guys are ready for the tens of thousands of lenses that are going to be showing up at your door for a tune up.
Good interesting reading that can’t be found anywhere else,thanks.
misterO ·
Zardoz. Why? I don’t really know. But it is geeky and fun to say. Try it!
Mike ·
I was going to suggest Cyclops, but it has multiple collimators, so how about Hydra?
KimH ·
My first thought was HYDRA – It’s the beast with many heads (3 in this case) and each time you try to “solve a problem” a new heads grows out…
Great article to follow!
As I mentioned a couple of times already, you could turn the testing, adjusting with certificate into a business. There’s enough of us out there to make use of your skills – and equipment – for a “small fee” 🙂
Kassim ·
Roger’s Organ.
Janne ·
The Optinator
Ralf C. Kohlrausch ·
I second Rogerator. And I guess, this sentence “I suspect we’ll find some other uses.” will have scheduled a couple of team meetings over in Japan 😉 You guys are incredible.
Greets
Ralf C.
A ·
Roger: Any idea what caused the two spikes on the right hand side (and to a lesser extent the left hand side) of the MTF plot for the 24-105 @ 105? Are they standard for the 24-105 MTF, or is there something else going on in that copy?
Name wise, I give you: The MTFinator: Measurably Testing for Flaws Indicating a Need to Adjust The Optics for Repair.
James Conner ·
MR POINT
Masterful Roger’s Precision Optical Integrating and Normalizing Thing
Stephen ·
Lassie. (Get it? It’s a collie)
s-a ·
“The Argus” for the creature with one hundred eyes. (You’re free to acronym it yourselves…)
John Mc ·
REG – Really Expensive Gizmo aka, Roger’s Expensive Gizmo
Carles ·
Easy and simple:
“Tripod” <- tripoc <- tripopt <- triopt <- tri optical colimator
or two much simple, 😉
Don Haines ·
ROAR
Roger’s Optical Alignment Rig
Jeff A2Z ·
L.I.T.E.
salim madjd ·
For reward can I send one of my lenses there for adjustment? 🙂
MOAT (Mother Of All Tests)
MikeB ·
Well as the article/blog was written by Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz it’s obviously the RACC … and lest you think that entirely self centered it’s really short for Realtime Alignment and Collimator Contraption
BenBotha ·
ROAR
Rogers optical analysis regulator.
Ben
Kenneth Negado ·
V ariable
I llumination
R ig for
G athering
I nformation from
L enses
Sid Reed ·
In honor of the low tech mallet, I would name it MALLET.
Multi Arm Laser Lens Emendation Tool
We’ll use the MALLET on this lens. We’ll test this one with the MALLET.
Dave ·
Maybe the title of this article said it all “Roger’s Toy” or “RT” for short. I can hear it now…”Aaron,get that lens up on the “RT”, stat”!
As an aside, my box of lenses are all packed up and ready to be tested. Just say when. 🙂
Dave
Jeff ·
I like Omega Peeper . It is after all the ultimate pixel peeper!
Ed Horst ·
Names:
– Alightment — play on “alignment”
– TrueLight
– TrueLens
– LAL (Lens ALignment)
– QA (Quick Alignment)
– QAL (Quick ALignment)
Chuck Jones ·
The Collimator. Resistance if futile, we will align you ;=)
Jim Maynard ·
A couple of name thoughts for the new instrument/technique:
Vertical Alignment Performance Optimization Regimen (VAPOR) “I think this lens needs to be VAPORized.”
Better Overall Nano Design Optimization (BONDO) “By using BONDO, this lens should be as good as it was designed to be.”
Rodger’s Efficient, Fantastic Realignment Brainstorm (or Benchmark) (REFRB) “Once this lens has been REFRBed, it should be good as new.”
Love your site and insights.
Jim Maynard
Jim DeLillo ·
The O-SHIFT!
Though you’ll have to make up your own acronym for it.
Jim
Ravi Bindra ·
LASSI
Lens Alignment for Spectral and Spherical Imperfections.
Hence the future phrase “Lets put that baby on our wee LASSI” in a Star Trek Scotty accent.
Rob Biemer ·
R.O.T.A.
Roger’s Optical Transmutation Assembly.
From The World English Dictionary:
“transmute (trænz?mju?t)
— vb
1. to change the form, character, or substance of
2. to alter (an element, metal, etc) by alchemy ”
Seems apt.
Phil Walton ·
The Holy Grail? Carrying on with the Came(ra)lot theme, it has to be named “X-calibrater”
Scott Kirkpatrick ·
I like TriCLOPS best of the suggestions so far, but how about Trifid?
scott
crwoo ·
roger that lens optimizer.
alan ·
Okay, you didn’t say how many entries one could submit, but in the spirit of fairness I will submit just one. I started to submit Vertical Optical Lens Tester or VOLT; but that might make you think of Chevrolet (although it does work well with or without a “The” preceding it). But a machine such as this needs a name that hints of anthropomorphism, so I’m going to submit COAL (Collimated Optical Adjustment Lens); since it sounds just like “Cole,” it makes it very easy to say, for example, “Let’s see what Coal has to say about that Zeiss”; or “Is COAL busy today?”; or “Shouldn’t COAL be back from his break?” With such a name, COAL will experience a seamless integration into the Lensrental famil.
Abraxas ·
I would be really interested in some more detail about the realtime lens adjustment. What exactly do you do to adjust the lenses?
Roger Cicala ·
Abraxas, this might show you what you want: http://wordpress.lensrentals.com/2012/07/optically-adjusting-a-lens
David ·
Norm, because it will be sitting there all day with a glass in its hand.
LeslieTroyer ·
micronator – a terminator for setting up lens’s at the 5 micron level.
sun573 ·
HAL
Handy Adjuster of Lenses
Tommy Estridge ·
opticalmus max is the name for your new machine.
Tim Ball ·
“Epok”- Expensive Piece Of Kit
Known as “The Ex”, for short.
That way you can offset expenses by charging everything to “the Ex”. ;o)
Tim Ball ·
…the “ok” in the above can also stand for “Optokos Kit”
…also known as “the Ex”………;~)
darr ·
iPin5
Chris ·
“TriCLOPS”
Tri Ray Inspection by Coherent Light for Optical Path Servicing
Chris ·
Thought of another variation.
TriCLOPS”
Tri Ray Inspection for Camera Lens Optical Path Servicing
Richard Feyd ·
The minotaur
salim madjd ·
Roger,
All these naming aside, would you be able to provide lens alignment as a service. I know it’s not your core business, but I would happily send a few lenses to be centered by you guys now that I know how fancy of an equipment you have 🙂
Fancy-pantsy
Lens
Optimal
Performance
FLOP
Chris ·
I keep thinking about this naming thing, you actually have a TriCLOPS 360, and when you add RGB laser sources, you can have the APO-TriCLOPS 360.
Carsten W ·
How about just: The Centralizer
Jim Saunders ·
The Z-axis Optical Reference Table. You know you want to.
Jim
Robert Quaintance ·
Palantír
From The Lord of the Rings. Those spheres that you shouldn’t touch because Sauron was watching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palant%C3%ADr
listera ·
TRINITY
Jean-Marie ·
Why not naming it the COMET?
It appeared as one in LensRentals’ sky, forseeing new wonderful achievements in your company or… endless questionings.
Furthermore, the pictures obtained with this machine clearly show the comma’s shape of a comet, and will give you all the aberration figures you wanted to compile, from the coma itself to every Zernike polynom numbers you will never need…
And last but not least, COMET is the acronym for :
Coolest Optical Machine for Extensive Tests, or
Customized Optical Machine for Extensive Tests, or
Complex Optical Machine for Extensive Tests, or
Crafty Optical Machine for Extensive Tests.
Eventually it will become for you a :
Compulsory Optical Machine for Extensive Tests, or
Creepy Optical Machine for Extensive Tests, or even
Cursed Optical Machine for Extensive Tests.
Or whatever you and your crew will imagine. Have fun!
Bernhardas ·
GEEK
Not only does Roger love to use the word (three times in the intro) it also stands for:
Graphic
Electronic
Evaluation of
Koma* (and other lens related technical stuff)
*German spelling for one extra optic geek point
Josh ·
TCROAS: Tri-Collimator Realtime Optical Adjustment System
Just a thought.
KeithB ·
How about Squint? because when you squint you see better.
Wes ·
Lens-sharpener
David Addams ·
From Greek Mythology: Panoptes
(It’s a descriptive term applied to Argus, the 100-eyed giant. Loose translation “All-Seeing”)
I also have a comment on the 50mm f/1.4 Canon image. That image reminds me of the images produced when you shine a laser through a diamond. That produces a pattern unique to each diamond and can be used for identification purposes.
My guess is that the Canon lens has a coating that is refracting the light as contacts the surface of the lens.
ahsanford ·
Name ideas:
RLH – Roger’s Little Helper
The Judge
SAURON – Systematic Assay, Understanding and Regeneraton of Optical Niftyness
Sharpenor
THOR – Tri-Harmonic Optical Resurrection (or Restoration, Rejuvenation, etc.)
FOCUS – Fastidious Optical Correction Upgrade System
The Auditor
Daniel ·
The elephant in the room: MALLET
Micron Alignment Lens Loading Equalizing Tool
“Soft lens? Use the MALLET”
Mnemonic: Manually Adjusting Lenses Longs Euphoric Technician
JonPB ·
Art?l. “Another Reason To Use Lensrentals.com.” Also, to further confuse the line between optical geekery and “art tools.”
Tom ·
Roger, let me first say that I hugely enjoy your articles, especially the history ones.
Her are some name ideas:
– The Collimatrix
– Optimize Prime
– Judge LEDD (Laser Emitting Decentering Detector)
– The Lie Detector (Lens Imperfection & Error Detector)
Mark Muse ·
I know how you can accelerate paying for that beast… provide this as a fee for service to the photo community. I want to be first in line!
Suzanne ·
Pinhole alignment machine (affectionately called PAM)
Edward ·
how about OptimusPrime?
Serge ·
How about “The eye of Sauron”
Class A ·
The name of this machine is “Triceratops” (greek for three-horn face).
Imagine my surprise when this acronym emerged out of the following, totally natural and obviously unforced description that was the first that sprang to my mind:
Terrific
Readjustment
Information
Calibrator
Establishing
Radically
Advanced
Total
Optical
Performance
Synergy
Chuck ·
You knew this was coming– when are you going to open up a lens repair shop? It seems like you guys have the openness and trustworthiness that most lens repair services lack, and so with your reputation, you could be very successful. I know I’d like you to put all of my lenses on that machine and then give them a tuneup.
Chris ·
Hold on…. have to wipe the drool off of the keyboard…
OK, now I can type.
I immediately thought of THOR also but mine is … The Humongous Optical Realigner.
Or perhaps you can take a hammer to the tested lens.. Mjolnir – Magnificent Jumbo Optical Linear Nerdy Imaging Resource.
Hope you get a chuckle out of at least one!
Jo Todd ·
FRED: Friggin’ Righteous Evaluation Device
Jeff ·
So I have to ask……. do you offer this service to individuals such as myself? Would love to send in my 400 2.8 and 600 F4.
bdbender4 ·
The Periscope
(Flash the room lights. Sound a klaxon. Shout “Dive! Dive!” and “Batten the hatches!”) Level off at six fathoms.
Darin Reed ·
How about ROLF?
Roger’s Optical Lens Focuser
Or CARL?
Cicala Aligns Righteous Lenses
Or REGGIE
Really Expensive Good Glass Imaging Examiner
(or Roger’s Expensive Geeky Glass Imaging Examiner)
Or LARS
Lens Alignment Ruins Sanity
Hey…Will we be able to rent this beast too?
Matthew Saville ·
MTF-ER
Jason Fleischer ·
Colliflower
No need to make up an acronym. Nothing is worse than a forced acronym, whereas everyone loves a cute nickname based on a personal trait (collimated light).
James ·
RET (Roger’s Expensive Toy)
or
RETBIAD (Roger’s Expensive Toy, Break It And Die.)
Or
Since it produces a bunch of dots, why not call it Dottie?
Ralph Hightower ·
That looks like a pretty neat toy!
What would be the cost to put a Canon FD mount lens on the bench?
justin wonnacott ·
“the sorting hat”?,
David ·
Mother
Warren ·
Why don’t you just call it what it is? a Test Thingy
jcolwell ·
“Bruno”.
gifred ·
LAAD, lens attitude adjustment device.
John Krumm ·
Here’s one, since it uses infinity light (whatever that is) call it Sagan. Or Carl. I’m sure someone can think up an awkward acronym to fit. Cosmo is another possibility.
Ken ·
Excalibur.
–Ken
George ·
I think it’s obvious…
Measurebator !
Alan ·
OptoSharp
John Hagen ·
Lens-o-Matic.
Horshack ·
Syzygizer – named after Syzygy, which relates to the alignment of celestial bodies. In this case of course it relates to the alignment of lenses 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syzygy_%28astronomy%29
Rob Turner ·
Mr T = (M)assive (R)ecalibration (T)ool
Aram Grigory ·
Just name it Razor
Bozilla ·
What a beautiful and use piece of equipment! I just wonder if you would consider to open a side business what you offer to calibrate lens (of models which you know how to calibrate) at a price? I’d gladly pay to get me lenses calibrated!
Kyle Brightman ·
Large Hadron Collimator
João Brites ·
Lenses Polygraph – L.P. – because all the lies about the state of an objective will be revealed and the whole truth will be discovered. 🙂
Tony Oaten ·
|It’s obvious, the name for this machine was destined from the start.
It’s simply called R.O.G.E.R
Roger’s
Optical
Grade
Enabling
Rectifier
Fernando ·
LENZILLA
Voltaire ·
Hocus Focus!
Edmond Gee ·
What do you call something that can expose the minutest flaws? Honey Dearest
Hey, would love to see a video of that big mallet in action!
Tony Oaten ·
Or
Roger’s
Optimum
Glass
Enhancing
Rectifier
LOL.
Peter Ho ·
The Insurance Deposit Nullifier
Tony Oaten ·
Sorry guys,
I’ve got it.
ROGER
Roger’s
Optical
Glass
Enhancing
Rectifier
Bob ·
The wringer
Paul ·
J-Nash1000
Everybody sing…
“I can see clearly now, the blur is gone…”
Neil Holmes ·
The dentist.
NormAl ·
For simplicity, call it/him/her “Len” this being the singular of Lens. Claim acrophobia.
Dennis ·
The Mallet …. Because mallets are good adjustment tools 🙂
jeffrey kellner ·
“CLEO” Collimated Light Evaluating Optics
Huy ·
The Cool Mate (a play on collimate).
S Geary ·
WHAMMO
After William Rowan Hamilton, a great Irish scientist and mathematician who, amoung other things, studied and developed teh theory of optics and caustics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton
WHAMMO stands for :
W – Wonderful
H – High
A – Accuracy
M – Machine
M – Measuring
O – Optics.
Jose Fernandez ·
Pixel strainer
Tirmite ·
LenRentals CALIBATRON DELUX® or “LRCD” for short.
Tirmite ·
LenRentals CALIBATRON DELUX® or “LRCD” for short.
Max ·
“Sprinkles, the Lens Dealer”
Rysan ·
I’ll add to the number of folks asking about you opening a side business to calibrate lenses. I think you’d fill a niche and be handsomely rewarded for it!
Mark Jones ·
Does the addition of “The Big MLL” [Maximum Lux Lucis] mean LR will offer a lens adjustment service? 🙂
Frank ·
Optikos Prime… More than meets the eye! Who doesn’t love a bad geeky pun?
Jim ·
“Mr. Peepers”
Chris ·
How about ALINE? This could mean A Lens Is Neutralized Exactly.
Well, I am not a native speaker, so please be forbearing…..
Dave ·
Wally Seemore
Chris ·
….perhaps better nullified than neutralized? So ALINE – a lens is nullified exactly…..
Dave ·
Opto Correcto
Mark Harris ·
The lensatron or lens-a-tron
Mike Bowler ·
How about
“The Light Optimizer”
Mike Bowler ·
Or
The Light Gremlin Removal System
Or
The Light Gizmo
tom ·
Opti-mizer
Hannibal Lenser
Jamie Turner ·
ColOptikos or just Col for short 😉
Eugene Powers ·
Call it Lens Monger.
Kevin ·
CYCLOPS Cicalas Yield Calibration Lens Optimizing Photographic System
Konstantin ·
Fred.
Jan ·
Lens Wrangler seems to be taken. 🙁
Lens herder?
Lens cowboy?
Brendan O'Neil ·
My first thought was its resemblance to the robot from the Lost in Space TV series: B9 famous for flailing it’s Slinky arms and blurting “Waning! Danger! Danger!”. Easy to remember and hopefully NOT what it says after each return check….8)
Carl Deutsch ·
New Name for VARS:
FRED – Focal Reverse Engineering Dihedral
Chris ·
It puts things bad in order so it must be the…
“Combobulator”
Dave ·
Not good at acronyms but I think one of the equipment’s photos reminds me of a large, angry looking black cephalopod, so why don’t we nickname it “The Kraken”?
Ben Raven ·
“TriClops”, “The TriClops”
Roger’s Three-Eyed Monster . . . As in CYCLOPS. Done !
Alternate Spelling options, your choice:
TRI-CLOPS
OR, go all the way with full Mythical spelling homage mode: TRYCLOPS
(with the additional touch of aspects of the ‘Tri’ meaning and the ‘Try’ meaning)
MikeD ·
Such an unwieldy contraption deserves an equally unwieldy name: The Optocallibrometer.
Chris ·
HAL
Chris ·
It actually looks rather Lovecraftian, so how about Cthulhu?
Cliff Haymes ·
lensoholic
majorleeg ·
How about “Buzz Lightyear”, because it goes, “To Infinity and Beyond” ?
I’ll try to think of an acroynom to go with B U Z Z, but the two Zs make it difficult.
Take Care,
M
Chris B ·
orgasmatron – optical realignment graphic adjustment machine
John Lamping ·
It looks like a Vulcan lens probe.
frank ·
BOB
Tom ·
OLC, Optikos Lens Calibrater
Gary A ·
How about Cyclops?
Jake ·
OLAF (Optical Lens Aberration Finder)
Paul Fan ·
CalBoy
Allan ·
No acronym, but I like the “Squint”.
Seth Honeyman ·
How about: CICALA.?
Complex
Integrated
Collimator
And
Lens
Adjuster
Jonathan Geach ·
The triceratops
Donald West ·
CYCLOPS
“Calibrating your camera lens optically perfect”
jayakumar ·
lenjust
or
deblur
Donald West ·
Ooops!
CYCLOPS
Calibrating your camera lens optically, perfectly, securely”
Steve Fines ·
With the three expensive collimators this is certainly the “Chan Chu”, the three legged money toad of ancient Chinese folklore.
The symbolic story behind this toad is that money will be the undoing of men, but it has become a feng shui symbol in modern times, with businesses putting it near an entrance as a way to bring in good money.
Whether you focus on “the undoing of man” or “bringing in good money” or the “three collimator / three legged toad” angle my vote is for Chan Chu.
And it will make a good story every time someone asks, as you can learn the entire folk tale.
Ed Legenza ·
The lens tickler
Flo ·
how’bout “Triclops”
Daryl Kottwitz ·
DOC: Deliberate Optical Corrector
Lew E ·
Goliathe
Hans ·
The thing looks like a BOMB – so “The Bomb” work for you guys ? It could stand for The Big Optical Measurement Beast. Hope that sounds technical enough 🙂
Marius ·
“The Sentinel” (ala the black “Squiddies” from the matrix movies). Keeps watch over all lenses and keeps them in line!
JON ·
THE LENSINATOR
John Campbell ·
Total Assessment of Rental Glass Enhanced Tool (TARGET)
Marius ·
W.O.P.R. Wizbang Optic Perfecting Robot
Eric ·
How about “The Wolverine”? It’s a beast of a machine, and the three collimators stick out the top like Wolverine’s claws.
Marius ·
“Group ‘W’ Workbench”
(and it does look like a big “W” on top of the thing!)
markb ·
“Otto Oculus” derived from Spider-Man’s Doctor Otto Octavius. Everybody likes Spiderman!
Tom ·
There is only one choice: The Equalibrazer.
Jerry Lang ·
Sharpie
Frank ·
Give it a name like a real person – Calvin I. Brate or Cal(i brate) for short.
Jason Tyler ·
Tim.
Jerry Lang ·
I think you should call it Sharpie.
John Tysko ·
With a big mallet near by, and lenses that keep coming back over and over, this is whack-a-mole (or whack-a-glass) for sure.
Keith ·
The Oculizer
Bob Berrio ·
op-ti-cal
“CAL” for short.
Paul ·
How about Wall-E’s photographic cousin, RALL-E
Realtime
Adjustment
Laser
Lens
Equipment
Joe ·
It’s a PAAP machine – Perfection At Any Price.
I request a Roger/Dr Evil photo set – since we’re talking about a ‘laser’ and all…
Aaron Oh ·
How about CALIBRO, the likes of Cerebro room from the X-Men movie.
Sung Chiu ·
i suggested on dpreview. . . “ICU”. . .
David A Edelstein ·
I don’t have a suggestion, I just want to know when you’re going to let us send our lenses in to be adjusted, and how much you’re going to charge! 🙂
Robert Jones ·
Lens Tester
Charlie Taylor ·
How about the BFC: Big “Freaking” Calibrator.
Rick ·
How bout the “lens whisperer”.
James ·
There is only one name for such a fine machine that fixes lenses.
Dr. Photon
Manny ·
The name that best fits is: Argus
Argus Panoptes
maxr ·
“Pepe”… you guys may want a simple catchy and friendly name as most probably are going to spend countless hours wring with him =)
Jan Kaluza ·
“refocus”
returns ensured (to) focus optimally calibrated utterly scientifically
came to your page from DP Review.
James Gates ·
Acris (latin for Sharp)
Don ·
Vars Vader
Bruce Bodner ·
optiviewer
Steven Lungley ·
ROGER THAT
Real-time Optical Geek Extreme Registration Tool Highlighting Anal Tendencies
Can be used as a noun or a verb!
ASK ·
The MaLenCat = MAssive LENs CAlibration Tool
Bruce Bodner ·
Lensalot
Bruce Bodner ·
Godscanner
Bruce Bodner ·
Optimus Prime
Bruce Bodner ·
Refractus
Bruce Bodner ·
Refractus (of Borg)
John W ·
Leonard.
InTheMist Photo ·
I say name it Dot Matrix or D-Max for short.
David R ·
Optopussy (after Octopussy from the 13th James Bond Movie). After all it looks like something out of a James Bond Movie.
Karl Hanafin ·
Name: Mr. Magoo … just because.
Jovan Ivkovic ·
What you think about names like:
1. LENSER – it may sound like LenseRental or Lense Repair
2. LORS – Lance Optics Repair System
3. LORRS – Lance Optics Repair and Recalibration System
Bye
Mike ·
the “CALF” – computer aided lens fixer
Boris ·
LeCaSt (Lens Calibration System)
Jim ·
Ansel
whisky ·
Tryclops
if at first you don’t succeed … TRY Calibrating Lot’sa Optical PartS again. 🙂
Bradley Marshall ·
Lenspro Optical Repair Device – Vertical Adjustment Digital Error Reset – as in LORD VADER
Donald Hull ·
Three collimators and you guys guard the quality of cameras and lenses you rent out and sell.
The name is obvious, Cerberus, after the three headed dog that guards the entrance to the underworld.
Don
Bradley Marshall ·
reset…
Lensrental Optical Repair Device – Vertical Adjustment Error Reset – as in LORD VADER
was typing fast 🙂
Rob ·
Lens Diablo
Bob-O-Rama ·
ELLCAP
Ensuring Lenses Lovingly Caressing Every Photon
Or the ELLCAP 9000 if it may become sentient and be promoted to COO.
The other choice would be
PHLEGM
Photonic Huygens Lens Enhancement Goodness Meter
Richard Weisgrau ·
I think the name Theia is the best name. Theia was the Greek goddess of vision and heavenly light.
Tig ·
To me, with those shiny wheels for eyes, the machine looks like the head-shrinking-guy from Beetlejuice. Because the objective appears to be to shrink the width of those dots with the adjustment, I think it’s an appropriate name: The Shrinker. It’s useful to be able to have the name be usable as a verb too.
E.g., What’s Roger wasting time on now? Shrinking some lenses we already shrank yesterday. Now it’s been double shrunk.
paolo ·
PRISM
Precise and
Reflective
Iris
Scopic
Machine
Mike Kampe ·
there can be only one name for The Machine:
Ansel.
Micah ·
HOLY CRAP…so when can we send you our lenses?!
;D
Kyle Brightman ·
Correction to my earlier suggestion:
“Large Photon Collimator”
Chris ·
I hope you guys use this to check all the new lenses you get and then publish the figures on “sample variation”. That would be useful for lens buyers to know and encourage the manufacturers to do better.
Bob B. ·
Based on Brian’s blue gloves, the dead-blow hammer and the basic internal, cylindrical analysis here, I think it should be called:
The Stool Tool!
After all …you guys are scoping the entrails and hoping for the best…Did you see any polyps in older specimens?
C’mon, just grab a lens, pull up a stool and have at it!
Bob B. ·
Based on Brian’s blue gloves, the dead-blow hammer and the basic internal, cylindrical analysis here, I think it should be called:
The Stool Tool!
After all …you guys are scoping the entrails and hoping for the best…Did you see any polyps in older specimens?
C’mon, just grab a lens, pull up a stool and have at it!
Bill Tracy ·
IMP
Imperfection Magnifying Percolator
Bradford Griswold ·
T-CAM
Triple Collimator Alignment Machine
Steven Grueber ·
Just “Big Ed”.
Bradford Griswold ·
BTW – I’m just gonna throw this out there. I know this machine will be getting some significant usage at your office…but have you considered offering a calibration service where people could send their lens in to get calibrated on the machine? I know it wouldn’t be a cheap service, but I have a few lenses I would be willing to plunk some $$$ down on to have properly calibrated.
Chris ·
The Tricercilatops
Bob S. ·
Since it kinda looks like a robot from Star Wars let’s make it short and call it L-2 for lens (rather than R2 from Star Wars).
Giulio Mari ·
The Lens-Rooter
tom ·
Reticulus…
Bill T. ·
The Basilisk, of course!
Or maybe, The Big Kahuna.
David ·
the Lensatron
Mark Forman ·
The Pin Cushion
Pins of light shine in and nothing gets out.
Rob ·
Just call it SPOT.
It uses spots of light.
You use it to adjust lenses SPOT-on.
and it’s a
Seriously
Persnickety
Optical
Tool
(or call it SPOTT for Seriously Persnickety Optical Torture Tool
mrahmo ·
Lenstweak
Eric Calabros ·
Light Spot Laser Adjustment Device
LiSLAD
Mahesh ·
How about something simple, like TLC (Tool for Lens Calibration).
Every lens needs a little TLC.
Andrew Webb ·
Just call it Larry.
PixelMover ·
Advanced
Photochromic
Refractive
Integrated
Lens-alignment
Fine-tuning
Optical
Oscillating
Lens
Station
Crazzy ·
Copernicus (Kopernik) …
Kent Fairbanks ·
Sharpinator
G. S. Gass ·
This first thought when I saw the picture on DPR was “Praying Mantis.” The arms above look as if they are about to strike.
Looks like a great toy. Enjoy.
Reinhard ·
Doc (Tr)Oc*
* Spiderman reference
Mike D ·
Optocalibrometer.
Sowerby Smith ·
“The Rogernator” is my suggestion fo rthe mchine’s name
Andy Feltham ·
Barry… The walrus of love
Johan Lamprecht ·
Big Brother – looks everywhere
Andy ·
The rack
Stephan ·
Suggested Name: DARTH VADER
Thanks for article. Enjoyed the read.
(Website listed is a work in progress – some pics are’nt commented yet and its still hosted in a subdoman
b shaw ·
LensRight.
Even though I worked metrology of optical and electro-optical devices among many other engr. responsibilities, I later learned much more when I was on the product management/ business side of things. – some of the things that would apply here are: Make the name simple and easy to understand for the vast majority of your clientele – also pick a name that reflects the outcome/benefit, not the process. I would stay away from acronyms. One of the many things I had to do was write ad-copy and one of the many tenets drilled into my thick skull was ‘simplicity’ .
… So with all of that – LensRight, to me, describes a powerful new LensRental capability to service the professionals’ go-to lenses to ensure they are razor sharp ….
Craig Thomas ·
Marvelous and well written article. Thanks!
Any primer out there on how to interpret those MTF charts? 🙁
JoelH ·
Acronyms:
1. RELCAL – Refractive Element Light Collimating Apparatus for Lenses
2. OPTI-CAL – Optical Pinhole Test & Inspection Centering Apparatus for Lenses
3. MAPCAL – Multi-Angle Pinhole Collimation Apparatus for Lenses
4. CICALA – Collimated Inspection Center-Aligning Lens Apparatus
5. OPTAC – Optical Pinhole Tester And Collimator
6. LASSO – Lens Assembly Super Straightener Outer
Nicknames:
1. Lenszilla
2. Optzilla
3. Aberrator (or De-Aberrator)
4. Lens Perfectionizer
5. Foco-Loco
Vittorio ·
What about Maria? Or colloquially Mary?
Bjørn Breitzke ·
Oh the name is obvious on first sight:
Medusa
(the lady with snakes for hair)
Clif F. ·
I can imaging Roger saying “Aaron, this looks serious! I think we need to run this thru The OptoOrthoticTri-Stimulator!”
steve s ·
AS we all know this machine will have a nice affectionate name because you will love it. As you have been literally adjusting your lens by the long and arduous needle in the proverbial haystack technique, it can only be called one name. WALLY, after the ‘Where’s Wally books’. You will say in conversation about adjusting difficult lens ‘take it to wally he will sort it out’. WALLY stands for ‘Widely Adjustable Lens Laser Yourself’. Wally is of course that nice friendly and helpful guy in the other room, who will save you a lot of time.
Mike Killelea ·
You should call it Rodgers Dodger but I suspect that having a huge phallic object sitting in your workshop you already privately it is called Rodgers Todger
Guy ·
Call it The Eagle … It looks like a claw … And sees as Sharp as ….. 🙂
Gert ·
I’d simply call it the lensdewacker. As that is it’s main function 😉
Mike ·
At the risk of offending pretty much anyone, it looks like one of those blackfaced entertainers.
‘Al Jolson’?
Henry T ·
ExCalibrator – just the pay on Excalibur
Nigel cotterill ·
How about’MUNDO’….exactamundo!
Arjen ·
George, you should call it George, as you are so in love with it.
As in “I’m gonna love him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George”
eunice t ·
How about Vgerfrom the 1st StarTrek movie. It looks like a small satellite. ?
Walter Schulz ·
PLB as in “Prokrustean Lens Bed” for sure. Can be named PiLiB as in Philip (without the wet component).
GPD does sound well, too. But “Gear Pornographer’s Dream” might be considered to be slighty offensive.
ak ·
blurograph
Sebastian ·
I’m in for the old-fashioned namens…
Blur-O-Meter
Have fun!
Sebastian
Scott Methvin ·
pixel tweeker
james ·
DEICO
(pronounced Deco)
Doofensmurtz
Evil
Incorporated
Collimator
Omator
Martin Christensen ·
The measure master!
bc ·
no acronym, but a simple, friendly nickname:
“Blinky” – as in Blinky, the 3-eyed mutant fish from The Simpsons
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Blinky
The VARS looks like some kind of strange, mutated contraption, doesn’t it?
And you *know* a big sticker with Blinky’s picture is just what’s needed to personalize that thing
and “blinky” because that’s how your eyes are going to be after staring at all those pinhole images all day.
Perry Carmichael ·
It’s all very technical…. How about “The Lens Thingy”. 🙂
Rod Kemish ·
Horus, as in “the eye of”. (Egyptology)
Foroa ·
CALIMERO: CALIbration of MEdiocre (Miserably) aligned Rented Optics
:A tool to pick up the black chickens that van stand up against the big ones.
Mike ·
If you’d prefer an acronym (of sorts), not quite the Holy Grail, but maybe the Holy Coaster of Lens Alignment:
‘The Holy C.O.L.A.’ ?
JoergV ·
excelLENS
OR
his excelLENSy
KP ·
Mother-in-law
Massive, cumbersome, delicate to handle, very sensitive…
JoergV ·
excelLENS
OR
his excelLENSy
RichT ·
“Calibration Station”
or
“Inspector Gadget”
Foroa ·
OTUSIA: towards the OTUS wonderland ….
pierre lagarde ·
My suggestions as a name
Kalibra
Pointblunk
Rakrapoter of tristophon
“Juste une mise au point”
Only Sigma needs it
LSUT (Little Set-Up Tool)
SINAH (Sometimes It Needs A Hammer)
BA-Lens
Anatoly Defin ·
Simply- Snipe(in the sense of ‘shot”) or Clear Snipe
Bob B. ·
BMF
Big
Medicine
de
Focus
Mikko Henrik Huotari ·
MTF-L
More Time For Lunch
daniel pennac ·
Good morning
I have 2 suggestions: A ludic one – Lenszila or a logical – Wyswig.
I guess any chosen name must be a single word to make it easy to memorize.
Cheers
charles e ·
BAMBI => Big-Ass Machine for Bad-ass Inspections
windmillgolfer ·
P – Pre/Post
R – Rental
O – Optical
V – Verification
I – Information
S – System
Paul Tansley ·
Just call it “Roger”
Perfect for all day long humour – I’m just going to roger this lens….
(not sure if that translates well into US slang, but in UK English it works a treat)
Abel Álvaro Duarte Gomes ·
FOVEA (the medical word) and for this purpose “Fenomenal Optical Visual Exact Accuracy”.
My best wishes
Abel Duarte
Phil ·
NOTHOGRAIL
NOt The HOly GRAIL
Brent Longborough ·
Obviously the Earth stood still on unboxing day, so:
Giant
Optical
Recalibration
Tool
GORT
Michael Martín-Morgan ·
The Dome. (Digital Optical Measuring Equipment)
It was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thumbnail on DPReview, as the base looked more three-dimensional but as you walk into the studio and see it from afar it still has a ‘a dome’ look about it, I’m sure …
Peter Kelly ·
I second Hans’ suggestion of the Bomb!
I’d like to claim I had a better idea but that works on so many levels: “I’ll just go and check it on the Bomb…”, “That lens has been Bombed, so it’s spot on…”
Has to be!
Dick Mathews ·
It’s the Lens Adjustment Machine
LAM
Pronounced Lamb.
azi ·
Roger my Holga seems a little off axis, will this machine help correct it?
Régis ·
Optipus
Régis ·
Optopus
Régis ·
Lensopus
Nicolas ·
Calibrator
billn ·
‘tiny’
😉
Hulki Pehlivan ·
Lo and behold
The TRIDENT
(a.k.a TRI-Diode Enhanced Neutrality Tester)
Wiktor ·
LenseR?
Craig Lafferty ·
The Matterhorn
JMV ·
Optipus
Cyclops
NFR ·
MILF
MIghty Lens Fiddler
Mark D ·
BAT = Big Ass Tester
Pauli D.M. ·
LASY
Lens
Adjustment
S
Ystem
Anders W ·
It’s rather obvious really. She should be named Lucy (or Lucia), after the saint of light. See here for additional inspiration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy's_Day
Just like your collimated light spots in the dark, isn’t it?
Cheers,
Anders
Devid ·
Dr. oPtopus
Fred T ·
Peeping Tom
Ray Lobacz ·
Hocus Focus – easy to remember!!
Lenny the Lens ·
How about.
THE RECTIFIER.
Jorge ·
Has some one already mentioned… calibrator?
Fidel Villa ·
BRAT – one syllable, you can use it as noun or verb. Hey, the BRAT is not working. Can you BRAT this lens please?Benchmarker, readjuster and tester.
Jorge ·
I have to had to my comment… from what I see, after quickly readint hte article, are we buying expensive optic equipment that cames with defects? Can’t each lenses manufactuer run the same kind of test before they release for sale each sample?
Rhodes ·
Given the use of collimators, I suggest The Collimatrix.
Rini Beumer ·
“Pin Hole Test” is what it is.
mk ·
I’d just call it “the big daddy” 🙂
Chris(tian) from Germany ·
ALINE, as I suggested earlier, which could stand for ‘A Lens Is Nullified Exactly’ and which of course intentionally sounds like ‘align’, is a female name in German language, though rather less common.
gGus ·
Here are my proposals!
GLARE: Glare: a Lens Adjustment Realtime Experience
FLARE: Fixing Lenses Augmenting Rental Experience
BLIPS: Blips is a Lens Inspection Pinhole System
GLASS: Glass is a Lens Analisys S Solver
OSLO: – Optically Sound Lenses Optimizer
KOALA: – Koala Optically Adjust Lens Aberrations
BLACK: – Black: a Lens Aberration Correction Kit
All of theese show the iteration that goes in correcting a lens optic. (bear with me if something doesn’t sound correct, englist being not my first Language)
Lenny the Lens ·
Or, how about.
S.O.L.A.R.
Super Optical Lens Adjusting Rectifier.
spgfr ·
Lenzilla
muskiepete ·
keep it simple— Coleen
Ale ·
Lens Sharpnesslessness Detector.
Even though I’m not that sure if wise to tell your clients that you use L.S.D while adjusting the lenses…
dr.oid ·
lens.a.juster
glassfixer
barrelhandler
objectomatic
Roberto ·
Cerberus?
Andrew R ·
I suggest “triclops”, because
(a) It refers to the machine’s three collimator assembly “eyes”.
(b) In the “Jedi Prince” series of novels set in the Star Wars universe, Triclops, the son of Emperor Palpatine, is an even more powerful lord of the Dark Side than his father. What better to threaten a recalcitrant lens with?
(c) But despite this he’s not really a bad guy – a pacifist at heart, he renounces imperial ambitions of the Empire.
Thanks for an informative and interesting blog!
Andrew
Charlie ·
Prime Gizmo
PG for short
A lens calibration machine on steriods
TomH ·
Where exactly is the array of pinholes placed in the optical system?
Do you need to worry about diffraction effects in the PSF results, or is this mostly meant for testing wide-open?
In the description you talk about point images at the “edge” of the lens. Does this mean at the edge of the image circle, or at the position where a sensor edge would be placed? What about the corners?
Roger Cicala ·
Tom, the pinhole array is placed where the sensor would be – the light shines in reverse through the lens and is detected by the collimator telescopes at 3 positions (which are variable). Lenses are always tested wide open because stopping down masks the aberrations.
Hank Dietz ·
Well, you’re really just creating a controllable simulation of a night sky to measure PSFs (Point Spread Functions), so I’d go with a name that’s full of stars or other pointy things: “FOS (Full Of Stars)” with apologies to 2001, “ArG (ARtificial Galaxy)”, “Pin Cushion”, “Knife Rack”, “Haystack”, etc.
Incidentally, nice toy — I have to measure PSFs using a LED source and pinhole from 10m away in my darkened basement. 😉
Sandy Crane ·
Alien Probe.
Steve7 ·
My varian of name:
ZMEY GORYNYCH
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_dragon
https://www.google.ru/search?q=zmey+gorynych&newwindow=1&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&biw=1600&bih=1025
Photoflight1 ·
MEDUSA
Just because the projections coming out of the top remind me of snakes.
Bill F
Artur Zarozny ·
Lensatron or Lensetron
Artur Zarozny ·
What is the longest focal length that you can calibrate with this machine?
Craig ·
Our 2-D Tool
rui oliveiralopes ·
This machine is a beast!!!! remind me a most known prostitute named….Lollita. Every man(lens) came just right from her…..
JP de Ruiter ·
Why not ironically call the system “Hubble”, after the greatest optical testing debacle known to mankind?
Mark Gaz ·
The BGT : Big GlASS Tester!
Roger Lambert ·
She should be named “Argus” after Argus Panoptes (Argus All-Seeing), the giant with 100 eyes who was the guardian of the heifer-nymph (who knew?)Io. “Panoptes” being a moniker taken up by Zeus himself, btw.
Argus was described in a fragment of a lost poem Aigimios, attributed to Hesiod:
“And set a watcher upon her, great and strong Argos, who with four eyes looks every way. And the goddess stirred in him unwearying strength: sleep never fell upon his eyes; but he kept sure watch always.”
Sanguineus ·
Just wondering – who calibrates the machine? And how? 😉
Roger Cicala ·
Sanguineus – Optikos calibrates the machine using another set of laser collimators. I don’t know who calibrates those 🙂
Bob ·
Lensometer
Ib Jorgensen ·
What about Fix Optics Quick UtiliZer = FOQUZ ?
Paul ·
Oculus Prime
whig ·
Marge
Jonathan Weber ·
Return 2 Duty or R2D2
Jonathan Weber ·
Confirmation of Necessary Diffractive Optical Measure CONDOM
Jim Kerr ·
CLAPAR – Collimated Light And Pinhole Array
Vasi ·
The device could be “Pinky” and the user “The Brain”, because you could take over the world with that thing. 🙂
Ken ·
PHOCUS
Pin Hole OCUlar System
tinyhands ·
Not an acronym, but that thing is a de-hoonifier. Lenses get hooned (by a hooning customer) so this thing de-hoons it.
Jonathan Brady ·
duopter!
As in… go Do that thing U do to the OPTics… ER… whatever.
tex andrews ·
hmmm…someone already suggested Cerberus, which is a good one. The Hydra would be another good classical reference.
The Japanese version I guess would be Gidorah.
Hindu would be Shiva, with his 3rd eye in his forehead.
For a more Marvel comics take, how about the Callibratotron, or Collimatotron.
Brian Cantwell Smith ·
MOALA — “mother of all lens adjusters”, prounced like “moolah”, which it undoubtedly cost
Jim Scott ·
In honor of the first telescope (pioneered by the Dutch) which relied on the viewing of stars to test the optics — how about the Dutch word for “stars”
– Sterren
J Scott
Jeff Fuller ·
The Jeff Fuller Signature Series Optical Calibration Bench. It just trips off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Ivar ·
R2Cthrough
Bob Sobol ·
How about “Dingus”? One definition states “used to refer to something whose name the speaker cannot remember, is unsure of, or is humorously or euphemistically omitting.”
Kirit Patel ·
Lets Name it “Lenscal”
Tom Wolf ·
Sauron
Andrew Waldram ·
C.O.L.I.N
Collimation
Of
Lens
Integrated
Nodation
Nick Davis ·
The device should be named…..
Cyclops
no special acronym…no special meaning…..just a good old fashioned name for a lumbering beast with one eye.
Nick
Frank T Haloostock ·
Omnieye
Frank Gore ·
The Measurebator 1000
Rash ·
Medusa
Jo Robbins ·
I’d like to send the lenses I own to you to have this done. Any chance you’ll ever offer it as a service. Canon cannot get my f/2.8L 24-70mm right, and they’re the ones who messed it up in the first place.
corky miller ·
LensMends
Ralf Jaeger ·
“Aberrator”
Or
“The Aberator”
Or maybe more to the point
“De-Aberator”
or considering what it looks at, how about
“Pointy”
Steinar Knai ·
I suggest you call it “pixelboss” and good luck in your venture !
Foroa ·
Peepshow
AJ ·
‘Fred’
It’s a nice name (‘Monty Python’ thought so) and easy to remember.
One can also use the relationship with the English band “Right said Fred’ when you get the lens elements properly aligned 😉
Tord S Eriksson ·
My suggestion is LAMDA: Lens Alignment Measurement Device & Adjuster!
Oh, you guys would look so cool with T-shirts with LAMDA (Aachen, Extra Bold), written in big block letters!
So Not quite a Lambda, but pretty close ;-)!
Craig Spencer ·
RC-D3. RC for Roger C!
Yannis ·
Iron maiden… That’s what came to my mind when I saw the machine…
By the way, does the machine work exactly on focus, or on a slightly defocused image, similar to the “star-test” that astronomers/astrophotographers use to calibrate their telescopes?
Robert Peck ·
Because it is large and complicated, I would just call it a “Zuggabeast”.
Tim ·
Darth – looks a little like Darth Vader’s helmet.
Tariq ·
“BIG BERTHA” or the German “Dicke Bertha” of course!:)
Mark ·
EAGLE (as in “eagle eye”):
Exacting Adjustment of General Lens Equipment
or
Exactly Adjusting General Lens Elements
Adam ·
Dr Evil. “Mini Me, stop humping the laser”
Sam ·
Introducing the “ADJUSTINATOR!”
george andros ·
The big eye
Ken ·
RTFM: Rental Transgression Fixing Machine
ROGER: Rental Optical Gear Easily Repaired
ROGER: Rental Optical Glass Easily Repaired
Joseph ·
BLT – Bad Lens Tool
Franck Mée ·
How about “Obie” (Optical Big Improvement Equipment)? I think lenses coming out of it should give very nice 8 by 10 color glossy pictures, shouldn’t they?
(Okay, now I’m starting to sound like a creepy Arlo Guthrie fan, I guess. Fair enough. 😉 )
scott flanders ·
Of course it’s name has to be sharpshooter. What else could it be?
Now that you have dangled the bait, when can we send our mis-behaving lenses in for a refurb?
SF
Ken ·
I have to ask, in the last photo, is the mallet part of the adjust tool kit?
William Fretwell ·
THE KNOCK JOBBER
Vladimir ·
Call it Ungoliant – a spider-like evil creature from Tolkien’s realm.
Tony ·
Wait…So what is the mallet for? Lenses that still don’t cut it after this machine?
Sggs ·
As a callibration device, holy graal of the geeks, why not call it “excalibur” ?
John Hinkey ·
Well, it kind of looks like a transformer – so how about “Optikos Prime”.
That’s pretty geeky, so how about the latin word for clarity – “Claritas” – it kind of sounds like a feminine name, but don’t most men name their machinery with feminine names?
John
Régis ·
Calipus
Régis ·
Optocal
Gordon ·
LARS = Lens Assessment and Reliability System. Or not.
Dave ·
Wow, no mythology references?
I say Cerebrus,Ghidorah, or the Hydra
Enoch ·
Machine for Adjusting Lens Elements and Testing (MALET)
Machine for ALigning Lens Elements and Testing (MALLET)
Arnold Tibor ·
eye sharper
Goblin ·
Why fish around ? This gizmo has been named by Shakespeare centuries ago:
CALIBAN !
Caliban the monster. And it all makes sense – he’s a monster, son of a malevolent witch named Optikos…errr… Sycorax, who dealt in stuff no one else understands, was subjected and commanded by Roger…errr…Prospero, who was basically ruling the place with an iron fist all while goofing around with magic and stuff. Nuff said.
Kent ·
BERTHA
Big
Expensive
Redonkulous
Thing
Helping
Aaron
GuyP ·
You remember Star Trek The next generation? Commander Geordi LaForge He wears visors,optical replacement (far better) for his lost vision.
So,in honor to him and to Star Trek,name your device La Forge!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordi_La_Forge
Josh Benin ·
You’ve already got it yourself – “Group W Bench”.
Foroa ·
Squinter
Donald S Sherman ·
How about LOCT
Lens Optical Calibration Tool
Adrian ·
Can we send private lenses in for adjustment? For a fee of course. =)
Donald S Sherman ·
How about SITH
Super intensive Testing Host
Emad Derisavi ·
Fixite
or
Chexite
Thanks
Dr Wolfgang Weiner ·
GALI-*-LEO
steve ·
Tombstone Of The Resurrection –
otherwise known as: The Optical Test Refocuser
but sometimes simply referred to as: RIP – Roger’s Intensive (or insane) Plan (or Picture-thingy-collimatroy-doodad-corrector with a mallet)
Come on – work with me:
what do you want on your tombstone – 10mm, 800mm or anywhere between
bringing new life to retired lens near you
revived from the dead
Alright then:
CPR – collimatory per roger
Aaron just asks for your tired and weak for there’ll be a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on. (Photons, electrons,…okay I got it – light) Where’s my mallet?!
Dick Arnold ·
Roger’s Radiating Raygun
Daniel Clune ·
The name, The Optimizer
Byron Law-Yone ·
“Sherlock” as in Holmes
Or Fiducile derived from Fiduciary which is about measurement and setting standards
MeNotYou ·
Looks like a “Yip-Yip”…so you can call it “the Yip-Yip”.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Martians
David Butler ·
Call it ‘Peter’s Gerbil’ – the obscure reason is that the optician I use is called ‘Peter Gerber’ and my family shorten the ‘Gerber’ bit to ‘Gerbil’. Actually now I’ve written that down it looks really lame….
JON ·
LENS KRACKEN
(IN USE….”RELEASE THE LENS KRACKEN!)
Dave ·
Blob attenuator. Or maybe deBlob (de-blob).
As usual, Roger, your articles have me laughing out loud as I read them.
This article proves what I have always maintained:
That one of our main jobs as photographers is to fool our customers into thinking that the blurry messy mass of blobby pixels we create is actually a “sharp” picture of something.
Richard Ward ·
In honor of baseball season how about “Roger’s Closzer”.
As in X Lens’ Optical Game is falling appart so Roger sent in the Closzer” to save it.
🙂
Rich ·
Only one name fits: CYCLOPS
JasonT ·
OPIE (Ocular Precisionator of Industrial Excellence)
SHARPIE (System of Harnessing Awesome Resolution Producing Impressive Excellence) or (System of Harnessing Awesome Resolution Providing Improvements for Everyone) or
EAGLEI (Eagle Eye) – (Eventuating Awesomeness by Grabbing Lenses and Experimenting Intelligently)
Ian ·
The GOBLAT
Grumpy Old Buggers Lens Alignment Toy 🙂
(No offense Roger)
Arthur ·
Lens Light Alignment Machine A (Assuming you will get more)
LLAMA
Byron Law-Yone ·
“Sherlock” as in Holmes
or Fiducile (fiduciary is about “holding something in trust”
Sean ·
F.ocal U.nification and C.alibration K.it
Brian ·
OOO — Optical Output Optimizer (pronounced “Ooooh”)
Rich T ·
Edward Sensor Hands
Bill Giokas ·
Call it darth Vader. Bill
Brian ·
OOO — Optical Output Optimizer (pronouced “Ooooh”)
Gary Rodgers ·
Doc Ock (Doctor Octopus – Otto Octavius)
Kit Grundstein ·
I’m hearkening back to earlier Sci-fi days to Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. I think you should call it the Lens Grokker.
Grok – the “Martian” word that means to understand something so completely that aberrations are eliminated. Or something like that.
George ·
Should be called Theia, the Greek Titan goddess of sight.
John Konstas ·
Micromate (from microns + collimate)
cary maures ·
How about ExCalibrator?
Dr Croubie ·
Roger’s Optical-Goodening and Extreme Resolution Improving Instrument, or ROGER II for short.
Face it, you know eventually they won’t need you anymore once the next model comes out that adjusts the lenses automatically so they may as well name it after you.
Iouri ·
Lightbender
Branden ·
Obviously, it should be called “Opticus Prime”
Mike Eichhammer ·
LCA = lens calibrating addictor
josh bornstein ·
Just an Optical Optimizing System Hardware
So, “JOOSH” (or ‘JOSH’) for short. (he suggested modestly)
David ·
“TTL” standing for Test The Lens not through the lens as in metering method in old film cameras
Rob Ducker ·
Call it: “Veritas” (the truth)
xon ·
The name? Easy!
CALLI
CALibration Lens Imager
Brian ·
I would call it Cyclops, for it’s single all seeing eye!
Jamesm007 ·
BLT for big lens tester. Lets test the lens with the BLT!
Cole ·
Too many people much smarter than I have the acronyms covered.
What about just
*The Edgerton* (just “The Edge” if you’re in a hurry and into the whole brevity thing)
Seriously though, this is the coolest. http://www.LensTestals.com is available and we will all send our lenses there if you take our money to test them on The Edge. See what I did there?
mark g ·
ARMIT (noun and verb)
Arced radiance measurement improvement tool
Def: noun
accurate
Radiance = of the beams of light (radiation being measured)
measurement & improvement tool
Verb:
To improve one’s lens
E.g. ” that can(n)on 24-105 of aaron’s is a bit soft huh”
“Really? maybe you just need to ARMIT”
mark g ·
Oops. Previous post was inconsistent.. Arced or accurate – take your pick..
eddy ·
Roger, you don’t have to name every toy you own, you know. Just saying. 🙂
tom ·
After reading the comments so far – may I start a vote? I propose
MEDUSA-
Bob ·
Since it has three inspection lenses, I suggest it’s called “TRICLOPS”.
Michael ·
PAC – Pinpoint Adjustment Calibrator
Steve Hageman ·
Wow, so now you can adjust lenses better than the factory! Mainly because you now have the equipment and know what you are adjusting things for which the people on the line at the factory have not a clue what they are doing or why. I would totally trust you more than the factory on this. That’s it a new division: Lens Rental / Service Division. 🙂 Keep up the good work.
Kevin ·
Lucy – Why? It just seems like a fitting name as in “Hey Frank. The customer says this lens is wonky. Can you take it over to Lucy to see what is wrong with it?”
al ·
CAL9000
Tom Alicoate ·
I already added my two cents before, but the more I look at the photos in the article, the more it really looks like some kind of beverage dispenser. Espresso machine maybe? It even has a cup holder. Please don’t take offense. It’s a really nice cup holder, and I would trade all of my photo gear for that last cup in there.
How about LATTE Lens Alignment Testing and Tweaking Equipment.
I think if you opened a lens alignment and testing service, you would have people beating down your door. Look at all the people interested in just naming the LATTE. You have LR, and Lens Authority, you could name it Lens Testers. It has a ring to it.
Vijay ·
My suggestion – “Peeping Tom” 😉
Shawn ·
The Lensticulator, of course.
Jeff ·
I suggest the LENS FIXER. As in Laser Efficient New Strategy Focal Image Xtreme Error Reducer.
steve ·
PLT-pin light test
steve ·
Like this one better…
PiLOT- pin light optics tester
Rick V ·
I think it is the optical version of the turboencabulator, so should be called O-TEC.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIS5n9Oyzsc for details.
Jerry ·
Sharpie.
Aussie Ammo ·
To me it looks like a B.R.U.C.E. as in … ‘we will need BRUCE to sort out this lens … ‘Only BRUCE will know what’s going on here.
I’ll get back to you later when I work out what the letters stand for.
Arnt ·
Truth Finder, or TF
Brad ·
The lens fixer
Prodromos ·
Hello, how about
OPA= Optical Performance Analyser
or
LOPA=Lens Optical Performance Analyser
or a name from ancient Greece
THALES (one of the Seven Sages of Greece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales)
HarryT ·
I think; ‘the DLC’ the Dodgy-Lens-Checker
Tom C ·
How about BOAT — Best Optical Alignment Tool?
Omarcin ·
LEO
Lens Equalizer Optimizer
Andrewh ·
TREYE (pronounced try) Could have a silly acronym like The real enginesr’s yaw eliminator but just “triple eye” or Treye sounds good to me!
Oded Sudarsky ·
Caliban (Calibrator and Analyzer), after Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Brad Thompson ·
Sure looks like a “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator” if I’ve ever seen one!
Just don’t blow up the Earth please!
Robert French ·
“Lentriculator”
T-Bird 22 ·
The Sharpenator
Robert Jordan ·
Optikos Prime
Joe ·
Have you considered providing an adjustment service for a fee. Ithink many photographers would be interested. I know I would be.
I would call this thing the “ROC” for Roger’s Optical Calibration.
Oldad ·
OPTIMIZER “Opti” as in optics, “Optimizer” as in optimum. And it’s easy to say.
If I win, instead of a free lens, I’d just like my 400/2.8 tested.
Piotr ·
P.I.K.O – Pierwszy Interaktywny Korektor Optyki
Curious know how many will solve this 😉
Jim ·
the BAT
the Black Adjustment Thing
Der Pixelator ·
What about “The Devil’s Advocate?”
Davide Vignati ·
MATTHEW!
A precision equipment must be named Matthew: simple, elegant and meticulous.
If you want an acronym:
Mathematical And Truly Truly Hot Enhanced Wow! 🙂
Davide
Grant ·
The UPLET
Ultimate Pinhole Lens Tester
Oldad ·
How about just “The Rack”. It looks like a torture apparatus to me.
hidesplitter ·
Lens-o-miser
Mike Banks ·
How about R.A.N.T…
Rogers Absolute New Toy
Shimon ·
“NACCKMA” which stands for “Nikon and Canon can Kiss My Ass” (as far as their factory repair service). Probably not PC but they are the “experts” and these (mostly) are their products which need repair but they can’t seem to do it properly. They can learn a thing or two from you regarding lens adjustments and how to take of customers and how to provide a superior product. Of course, I’m just picking on the “big two” but this really applies to most lens manufacturers.
In any event, I would like to see you offer a repair service for adjusting lenses as it appears that you have the will and capability to get it right the first time.
You will probably need another NACCKMA machine and more people.
Zack ·
“The Green Yamu”
Michael Stockem ·
How about -big cal my pal- or maybe as shortcut: bicpa
BillG ·
VARiS – it sees everything.
William Cook ·
How about the OBS: Optical-Bettering Simplifier. You could call it Obbie for short, and people might think you’re talking about the OB-GYN when you casually mention it. This could not only lead to some laughs, but allow you talk about how geeky it is with people.
I really don’t see a downside to this.
Kevin ·
This machine reminds me of the aversion therapy scene from A Clockwork Orange. Alex is strapped to a chair with his eyelids open, while images of ultra violence are forcibly projected into his eyes to rehabilitate is criminal and wrongful ways. Sort of what this Optikos machine does to a misguided lens. This machine is now your faithful droog…….and should be called Alex.
Charles Denham ·
Call it the VARS ROVER
AJ ·
How about ‘NABA”?
(Not Another Bloody Acronym)
Roger ·
“The Collibrator”
Katana ·
The SPLORG[TM] – Super Powerful Large Optical Recalibration Gizmo (alternatively, Super Powerful Lens Optical Recalibration Gadget)
Craig Spencer ·
RC-D3
Michael ·
Just call it Chuck Norris and be done with it.
JRO ·
Lens Corrector Turbo – LCT
Charl ·
OpticCal.
Element Bender.
The Military School. Straightening your elements up.
Greg Greenhaw ·
Oculus
An oculus, plural oculi, from Latin oculus: eye, denotes a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an œil de boeuf from the French, or simply a “bull’s-eye”.[1]
preston ·
I like the straightforward and unassuming – both in sound of acronym and its meaning – of PACO (Precision Aligned Collimator from Optikos).
As in – “Hey, Imatest is saying this 24-70 f/4 is a little wonky. Whaddaya say we give Paco a crack at it?”
Peter Wing ·
“Optical Maximizer”
nickname – “OH MAX” or “OP MAX”
Peter Narkotsky ·
So Roger – this is all good:) But when can I send you my lenses and have it adjusted? Just take my money:)
Vijayan ·
I will name it the “rejuvenator”.
Guthrie ·
You guys should totally offer this as a service – I’d rather pay you than send the my lens into Canon (or whomever) and have them send it back and tell me its magically been fixed when really I have no idea what they did. If you calibrated lenses and then sent some of those pretty before-and-after pics to show what was actually done I’d totally pay!
Kevin ·
Piete -Pierwszy Interaktywny Korektor Optyki is Polish for First Interactive Optics Editor.
Tom A. ·
Call it Chuck Norris and you wouldn’t even need to align the lenses. They would straighten themselves out of fear.
Sorry, had to go there.
GradyB ·
It’s an Interocitor
(MST movie reference, “This Island Earth”.)
Joseph B. ·
O.C.T.O. (Optical Calibration Tool Obelisk)
Geert Beekes ·
TOPS:
The Optics Performance Scrutinizer
Stuart Cowan ·
Baldr – God of Light and Purity from Norse mythology. 🙂
B.A.L.D.R – Big Automated Lens Diagnostic Rig
Giorgio ·
Maybe you could call it :
StarVars
a name which recalls the star point commonly used for testing telescopes, microscopes &c
Brian ·
The new toy could be the Clairvoyant It means clear vision and it sound cool.
Max K. ·
“The Big Cahuna” or “The Lens Cahuna”
“With our Lens Cahuna, you can be sure that the lenses you rent from us work perfectly. We give them the TLC they need.”
Toshio Yamane ·
I call it:
EoD
Eye of Dragonfly
They have huge compound eye.
Kurt Lawson ·
Calibratron 5000
Smasher ·
How about the Focustron 5000?
Lens-o-matic?
Lensy Looky Throughy Thingy?
Paul Allen but not the famous one ·
TRILOGY
TRI (TRIPLE-AXIS) LENS OPTICS GRAPHIC YARDSTICK
TRILOGI
TRI (TRIPLE-AXIS) LENS OPTICS GRAPHIC IMAGER
TRI (TRIPLE-AXIS) LENS OPTICS GRAPHIC INSTRUMENT
Yosi ·
What about calling it: “Lenstastic” sweet and short. Enjoy.
Jimmy G ·
Tri-Collimator. My Sigma 300-800mm.
🙂
jack ·
tricolour
Stuart ·
Triclops
Andrew ·
Sauron – because it’s the all-seeing eye.
Medic Yao ·
R.M.R.M —— Roger’s monster-revealing mirror
R.D.D. —— Roger’s demon-detector
From Chinese word”???”
Emmanuel ·
What about the ADJUSTOR ?
Marshall Arbitman ·
The Scary Eyeball
Marshall Arbitman ·
As in, “We’ll give it the ole scary eyeball.”
kassim ·
Just call her Baby, hahaha.
Leon ·
Call it Peeping Tom
Joel ·
Great article Roger, I have to echo the idea about it being a side service. Personally I know I would send in my lenses to be checked. You should really publish a list of what lenses you can do and price per lens. Also my Google has failed me, you sparked me interested and I couldnt find anyone with a article about adjusting lenses besides yours.
draco ·
Molenster…Sounds good enough?
Mackie ·
ALTAR – Absolutist Lens Test and Alignment Rig
referring to absolutism in philosophy, a theory which holds that aesthetic value is absolute and universal and not relative to individual or social differences
Ken ·
BALLS: Basic Alignment for Loopy Lens System
BALLS: Basic Alignment for Loopy LenseS
RED: Realignment, Extremely Delicate
JAWS: Just Align the Wonky System
QUIP: Quantifying User Induced Problems
LLAMA: Large Lens Adjusting MAchine
ATLAS: Another Tall Lens Adjustment System
vartkes peltekoglu ·
Iwould call the contraption MILTON. An intellectual looking creature that is wise enough to crack open the reality of lens design and manufacturing.
I have a Canon 45mm T/S lens that is prime candidate for Milton to contemplate!
Vartkes
Rodney ·
I recommend AB for Adjustment Bureau or the AB machine. Congrats on the machine, its pretty fascinating.
Georgi Penev ·
LTT=Lens Testing Thingie
BOLTT=Big Ol’ Lens Testing Thingie
Kelvin ·
Her name is Cally.
Paul Rickert ·
I want to second Peter’s comment. It would be a valuable service if you were willing to optically correct lenses for a fee. Please consider it.
brian ·
Ansel
The sharpest photographer I know.
or
Another – Super – Evaluated – Lens
Gregory Morris ·
How about Roger’s ostentatious bionic optical tuner or R.O.B.O.T.
Roger Bradbury ·
I think it should be named after Blinky, the three eyed fish in The Simpsons:
http://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Blinky
It’s also an acronym:
B Big
L Lens
I Image
N Nudging [and]
K Korrecting (I know, I know)
Y Yoke
Steve S. ·
At first, I was gonna say, “the rack” — it’s clearly for torturing lenses, stretching their joints and such. This whole “adjust” and “calibrate” doublespeak is clearly just hiding all y’all’s sadistic impulses! But “the rack” is a bit flat, it lacks personality. So, how about “Torquemada” aka “Mr. T” (or is the “Mr. T” xref too dated?)…
Alternatively, it could be the “Huge-Ass Lenstester” aka “HAL” (because 2001 xref’s NEVER get outdated).
Finally — though it lacks the acronym/abbreviation feature, how about “Leetle Friend.” You introduce each lens to this device with the remark (spoken in a bad slavo-germanic accent), “Say hello to my leetle friend!”
Jean ·
Hawkeye
Steven Lungley ·
ROGER THAT
Real Old Guy Evaluates Resolution, Totally High-lighting Anal Tendencies
Slight update from my first submission
Piotr70 ·
1) serious: LensMagic
2) more serious: TheLordOfTheLenses
Michael Brochstein ·
I will repeat another commenter’s question: When will LensRentals offer a service to adjust customer lenses? This can be a real money-maker for you and you will probably even need to get a second VAR5 (or whatever you call it).
Peter Bodo ·
Call it CALIBRI.
Dan Tong ·
Great article, as usual. Here are my suggestions for a name:
Dot’s Better
Align-Damnit
The Adjustor
The Adjusticator
Focus-Damnit
Focal Point
DoME
DoMENext
Mr. Pinhead
Better-Yet
Foveus
Doctor Foveus
Doctor Dots-It Focal Ma-Jig
Not Your Typical Pencil Sharpener (NYTPS)
Doctor DeBlur’s Focal Magique
Tri-Light Focal Magic TLFM
Dan
Cherie ·
Seriously melted when I saw how well this can fix a soft lens…
I have 50 acres I can donate a piece of to establish the new Lens Rental Repair Center out by Topeka, KS.. center of the nation, best shipping prices anywhere.. I’d love to learn how to fix lenses.. and get mine fixed!
Can we build another machine an ship it out here? I’ve got a LARGE barn we can start in!
Carl ·
Since you used the term a few times, call it, “the Geek”. If you want an acronym for it, “Gear Electronic Erecting Kalibrator” or something to that effect.
Tom ·
Ernie Ford
Exceptional Reticule Navigation Investigation and Experimentation
Focusing Optics Remedying Device
He’s you’re home state after all.
It could have been:
PORK: Professional Optics Remedying Kontraption
But I know you always want to stay classy on your website, and we wouldn’t want any underlings to get confused and eat the wrong thing come lunch time.
Tom ·
Sorry – grammar correction:
“He’s your home state, after all.” – my bad.
David Jones ·
I like the name “Pinny”…………
Tim Fritzsching ·
Awesome post Roger!
It kinda looks like weapon that Darth Vader would use to destroy a planet with… How about the “Darkstar”?
Jon Ukman ·
Pinhole Reticler
Neil Barker ·
Lens Calibration Tool System
( LeCats )
Sebastian ·
Here is one for you: V.L.A.D. (Vertical Lens Alignment Device). I don’t know about you but I find its look quite imposing, menacing if you like.. A bit like Coppola’s Dracula with his oversized hairdo and lean body – hence the adjustable three large collimators on top. Yep, you have a laser beaming, shape changing lens adjustment device that would scare a bejesus out of most kids and some grown ups too. You would make Mr Coppola proud, I am sure 😉
Richard Rich ·
How about just…TTL2 or TTLII?
jan ·
optizilla, opzilla,optikozilla
Lens Throne.”The Throne”
Scott McMorrow ·
Alignasaurus
Jeffrey ·
With all of those arms sticking out, the clear favorite for a name is Octopus.
Theo ·
Obviously, this is a reincarnation of “CYCLOPS”.
Frank ·
Call it the Oculator
Garret van der Veen ·
octopus with three arms: tresopus
Rob ·
OBSESSION
Optical
Bench for
Specification,
Education,
Shinystuff (alloneword), and
Showing
Idiots
Optical
Nonperfection
?
peter boulay ·
call it the outofwackOmitor OWO
Tom A. ·
Roger,
So when will we find out what you decide on?
Tom
Jim ·
I like the pic with the mallet in the foreground 🙂
Hey, why not The Lens Mallet…..it’s a sure thing!
Rick G. ·
How about the Squid–with the tentacles sticking off of it, that’s what it brings to mind. Or maybe the CLOCK(Collimated Light Optical Correction Kit)? CLOCK would also be somewhat descriptive with the arms that move…
Helder ·
Eye Fidelity
Bruce ·
Jeffrey was so close. If he had turned the knob on the name collimator just one more click he would have resolved the name Optipus.
The Optipus from Optikos. Right on.
As long as I’m here, anybody know what that thing is on Rogers head?
I’m thinking its either an old Sherpa hat, or possibly even a Yeti scalp.
Matt ·
The un-PC suggestion:
The Glassturbator
The acronym suggestion:
CLOBR (pronounced ‘clobber’)
Collimated Light Observer and Blur Rectifier
R: Aaron would you CLOBR this lens real quick?
A: No can do, I’ve already got ten other lenses lined up for CLOBRing.
Casimiro Mondino ·
Could be interesting to name the “VARS” “Pequod” the mission of the VARS is the same to find the whale of every body and katch it in a perfect way.
Pete A ·
OBSESSION above is a great one and whilst not an acronym, I also rather like “The Throne” or perhaps just
“The Thing…”
“We’ll have to put it on ‘The Throne/Thing’ would amuse my child like mind for years.
I’ll get my coat…..
Garret van der Veen ·
I’m afraid Roger is ill, bad case of convulsion of laughter.
Why not just name it The Optikos (its made by Optikos) instead of
…………………………………………………….. and so on…
S H Ha ·
“Robocali” from the title photo of the device with its twin wheels looking like a robot with round shoulders and the rest of the machine almost human in scale.
Helmut ·
Trinity
NMM1AFan ·
Good outfit, Optikos. We have two of their MTF benches at work.
Some wicked smart optical engineers there.
Interesting blog, sir!
Best regards,
Jon Kline ·
SCOPE
Self-Contained Optical Perfection Engine
Deagan Bonneteau ·
Will you be offering a lens adjustment service?
Rick ·
Lucem Punctum Apparatus
K Misegades ·
The Lensinator
This will help you see which lenses can be calibrated or terminated.
Chuck Runick ·
ROTC! Pronounced Rotsee
Roger’s Own Test Contraption. You can substitute “Collimator” if you feel technical.
Les Pall ·
TULIP
The Ultimate Lens Improvement Platform
(not to be confused with the classic shape of some lens hoods).
Rory ·
Optikos Oktipos; for its many legs and its creator. And it’s a tricky tongue twister too.
j.d.hunter ·
How about “Opticalator”
JA3 ·
Just call it “The Collimator”. Pronounced like “The Terminator”
Mike ·
The Looking-Glass
pixelsrzen ·
It’s so obvious… the Thingy. 😉
Mark S ·
She’s a beauty. Call her CLARE.
Collimated Light Alignment for Rotational Evaluation.
Chuck Miller ·
I would call it Buzz Lightyear.
David T Y ·
Looks like a “Jigger” to me (or, for folks requiring a full scientific name, a/the “Lens Jigger”).
greg ·
She looks like Medusa.
silmasan ·
Large Hadron Collider.
Tim B ·
I would call it bob, but that’s just my go-to name.
Ross Hamamura ·
Optikos Prime
Anthony ·
Large Photon Collider (LaPCo)
Pinhole Lens Calibrator (PiLeC)
Lens Calibration Cthulhu (LCC, or LeCaC) — it does have tentacles
Got Lenses? (GoL)
and one in Apple-ish spirit: iCal
Anthony ·
By the way, the 3D graphs with the before and after MTF need a consistent color palette. The rescaling of the colors makes it look like the calibrated lens is worse (of course these graphs are for your internal consumption, not for me to review, so I should shut up sometime close to now).
Nice article by the way.
spencer ·
LASIK
Lens – for Camera lens
Adjustment – fixing
Setup – process
Imatest – Standard
klingon – You say Vulcan, I say Klingon
LASIP
Lens – for Camera lens
Adjustment – fixing
Setup – process
Imatest – Standard
Pinholes – light me up
Ken ·
SLR: Super Lens Re-worker
FUBAR: Fixture Used Before Another Rental
SNAFU: Super Nice Adjustment Fixture Unit
NUBAH: Nothing Used But A Hammer
RA: Rental Adjuster
Jeffrey Dubinsky ·
Awesome, how much to ‘fix’ my Canon 24-105? Would coffee and donuts do?
Edward ·
LENTACLES (Lens “spectacles” to help them see better as well as incorporating the “tentacles” of the multiple arms)
spencer ·
FAME
Frickin Awesome Machine Envy!!!
Frickin Awesome Machine Everyone!!!
spencer ·
FAME
Frickin Awesome Machine Envy!!
Frickin Awesome Machine Everyone!!
spencer ·
REAL
Real Expensive Adjustment Lens
REALLI??
Real Expensive Adjustment Lens Light Information
spence ·
FAME
Frickin Awesome Machine Envy!!
Frickin Awesome Machine Everyone!!
REAL
Real Expensive Adjustment Lens
REALLI??
Real Expensive Adjustment Lens Light Information
Arnold Dorsey ·
Awesome machine Roger and LRs. After you all validate each and every one of your lenses with OLAF your clients won’t be able to blame “soft” focused photos on LR equipment.
Since Optikos made the machine I would’ve opted for something Greekish like Odysseus:
Optical Device You Sight Some Equipment Until Satisfied
I love LR and your blog Roger.
Clem ·
That’s a nice piece of equipment! With the ability of some cameras to micro adjust the focus plane, this would add to that by allowing a lens to be as sharp as it’s optics allow. Do you have a list of which Canon lenses have the ability to be adjusted and which don’t ?
I’d use SHARP
Super High Alignment Rendering Precision
Pat ·
How about calling it DOTTY. It is a human name that describes some of the functionality.
Bryan Conner ·
Since only a true lens nerd can really appreciate this apparatus, call it Pointdexter.
Bryan Conner ·
Wait I know! How about Optical Prime or Opticus Prime? (a reference to Optimus Prime from the Transformers and to prime lenses at the same time)
Larry ·
GASSER (Glass Alignment System So Everything Rents)
Robert ·
This machine is redonk. Any chance you could charge a few to put personal lenses on this thing? I would totally be willing to pay shipping and a fee to throw a few of mine on it. I would love to get my Nikon 105mm DC calibrated.
My go at it:
L.A.C.E.
Lens Alignment and Calibration Equipment.
Frank ·
LEAD (Light Emitting Adjustment (or Alignment) Device)
Obviously there are variations which can be used to create new pronouns like, LEMAD (Light Emitting Micron Adjustment/Alignment Device) or LEMAAD (pronunced le-made) (Light Emitting Micron Adjustment Alignment Device).
Ulf ·
You could call it CALI (from calibrate) or KALI like the Hindu goddess of time, change and destruction (it’s TIME to calibrate your lens and CHANGE the adjustments. If the lens is not repairable then it’s up for DESTRUCTION I guess).
If you are after a more serious name than what about the greek word for light (after all the principle is based on light rays)
Phos = light
Photos = of light
Phota = lights
Piotr Wojcik ·
Great article about the things we use the most as a photographers.
Finsoul Network ·
Insightful and well-presented article that delivers practical value and clear business perspective.