WIDE ANGLE LENS AND IMAGING DEVICE

• US 20120056978A1
• Filed: 03/24/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Abe, Issei, Yoshida, Hayato, Moniwa, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 8,643,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/36
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/06 Panoramic objectives; So-called "sky lenses" including panoramic objectives having reflecting surfaces

Abstract

A wide angle lens whose field angle exceeds 160 degrees, includes a front group, an aperture stop, and a rear group arranged in this order from an object-side toward an image-side. The front group includes a first lens (negative meniscus) whose convex surface faces the object, a second lens (negative), a third lens (negative), and a fourth lens (positive), arranged in this order from the object-side toward the image-side. The rear group includes a fifth lens (positive), a sixth lens (negative), and a seventh lens (positive), arranged in this order from an aperture-side toward the image-side. The fifth and sixth lenses are combined, forming a cemented lens having positive refractive power. The fifth and sixth lenses are made of materials having Abbe numbers of greater than or equal to 50 and less than or equal to 30, respectively. A surface of the seventh lens facing the image is aspheric.

Claims

1. A wide angle lens whose field angle exceeds 160 degrees, comprising:

a front group, an aperture stop, and a rear group, which are arranged in the stated order from an object side toward an image side, wherein

the front group includes a first lens that is a negative meniscus lens whose convex surface is facing the object side, a second lens that is a negative lens, a third lens that is a negative lens, and a fourth lens that is a positive lens, which are arranged in the stated order from the object side toward the image side,

the rear group includes a fifth lens that is a positive lens, a sixth lens that is a negative lens, and a seventh lens that is a positive lens, which are arranged in the stated order from an aperture stop side toward the image side, wherein the fifth lens and the sixth lens are combined together forming a cemented lens having positive refractive power,

the first to seventh lenses form an imaging system including a total of seven lenses,

the fifth lens is made of a material having an Abbe number ν

d5 that is greater than or equal to 50,

the sixth lens is made of a material having an Abbe number ν

d6 that is less than or equal to 30, and

a surface of the seventh lens facing the image side is an aspheric surface.

2. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

the fourth lens is made of a material having an Abbe number ν

d4 that is less than or equal to 30.

3. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

a thickness d4 of the fourth lens and a focal length F of the entire imaging system satisfy a condition of 5.0<

d4/F<

6.0.

4. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

the aspheric surface of the seventh lens facing the image side primarily has a function of adjusting distortion aberrations.

5. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

the field angle exceeds 180 degrees.

6. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

the wide angle lens has an F-number of substantially 2.0.

7. The wide angle lens according to claim 1, wherein

the first to sixth lenses are made of optical glass, and

the seventh lens is made of resin.

8. An imaging device comprising:

the wide angle lens according to claim 1; and

a color imaging element including pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally, the color imaging element being configured to perform a conversion process to convert an image of an imaging target formed by the wide angle lens into image data.

9. The imaging device according to claim 8, further comprising:

an electronic processing unit configured to execute an electronic process on the image data obtained by the conversion process performed by the color imaging element.