Olympus has released three new types of compact lens elements to improve image quality and zoom power. They are the DSA (Dual Super Aspherical lens), EDA (Extra-low Dispersion Aspherical lens) and SHR (Super High Refractive index lens). Each element represents a breakthrough to ensure picture-perfect results and imaging flexibility. These new types of lens elements are incorporated in the latest Olympus compact cameras, announced this week.

Innovative solutions to traditional technological challenges

New compact design lens elements from Olympus to improve image quality and zoom power.

London, 24 January 2008 – Building on its formidable know-how as a leading opto-digital manufacturer, Olympus continues to raise the bar in optical quality with the release of three new types of lens elements: the DSA (Dual Super Aspherical lens), EDA (Extra-low Dispersion Aspherical lens) and SHR (Super High Refractive index lens). Each element represents a breakthrough to ensure picture-perfect results and imaging flexibility.

The new lens element types are a success story built on persistence, innovative thinking and high-tech precision. Each will have a significant impact on present and future construction of optical elements while at the same time leading to new advances in camera design. Olympus has one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing facilities, producing lenses for cameras as well as medical equipment, endoscopes and microscopes. Advanced research and development at these plants enables Olympus to solve technical challenges in order to create lenses that others thought were impossible.

DSA (Dual Super Aspherical lens)
The new DSA (Dual Super Aspherical) lens element lets Olympus achieve the seemingly impossible – a curved lens element which is thinner at the centre than it is at the edge. It unites extremely high refraction ratios with the ability to compensate for aberrations. Previously, several conventional lens elements needed to be combined to obtain the same high definition performance that can now be obtained from a single DSA lens element.

EDA (Extra-low Dispersion Aspherical lens)
When light is refracted through a lens, it is dispersed into the colours of the rainbow. But because the colours do not have the same wavelength, they are not all able to be in focus on the same plane at the same time. This has a negative impact on the sharpness and colours of an image. With the EDA (Extra-low Dispersion Aspherical) lens, Olympus uses ED glass to resolve this traditional problem and minimise chromatic aberration for superb photographic performance. In the past the production of aspherical surfaces on ED lenses by means of moulding processes was seen as impossible because the surface is extremely fragile and fractures easily during the process. To solve this, Olympus developed an ultra-precise cooling method which protects the lens from breaks caused by thermal shock during the gradual cooling process after manufacture. The new technology requires three times more cooling accuracy than previous methods. Conventional ultrasonic washing also tended to damage ED lens surfaces, so Olympus developed its own special washing system. This ensures a more precise surface while guaranteeing the lens element is not damaged. These new technologies work together to enable EDA lenses to be successfully produced via a moulding process.

SHR (Super High Refractive index lens)
This is an extremely thin and highly refractive element that ensures the same level of refraction across the entire surface. In spite of its curvature, it provides edge-to-edge sharpness by delivering a uniform transmission of light and uniform picture surface.

These new types of lens elements are incorporated in the latest Olympus compact cameras. Innovations including the phenomenal 20x wide zoom of the SP-570 UZ or the 7x zoom within the ultra-slim dimensions of both the µ 1010, µ 1020, or the 3.6x wide zoom of the µ 1030 SW are just a small sample of where this cutting-edge optical technology has found its way to the market.

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