Piper. A First Book of the Lens

This is a set of digital images of C. Welborne Piper's A First Book of the Lens (London: Iliffe & Sons Ltd., 1901). Piper's book is a general introduction to optics intended for the nonscientist photographer. He is better remembered for his later work with the "bromoil" photographic printing process.

These images are scaled to a uniform width of 1000 pixels (except the Front Cover); please size your browser or image viewing software window accordingly.

Contents

• Transcription Note
• Front Cover
• Title Page - p. 000-001
• Contents - p. 002-003
• Chapter I. Light and Optics
  • p. 004-005 (1 Light and Optics)
  • p. 006-007 (2 The Theory of Light, 3 Physical Optics)
  • p. 008-009 (4 Geometrical Optics)
  • p. 010-011 (5 Spherical Aberration, 6 Colour)
  • p. 012-013 (7 Chromatic Aberration, 8 Light Pencils)
  • p. 014-015 (9 Aperture, 10 Refraction)
  • p. 016-017
  • p. 018-019 (11 Dispersion, 12 Reflection)
• Chapter II. Action of Lenses
  • p. 020-021 (13 Lenses, 14 Positive and Negative Lenses)
  • p. 022-023 (15 Forms of Lenses)
  • p. 024-025 (16 Lens Surfaces)
  • p. 026-027 (17 Formation of Images, 18 Pinhole Image)
  • p. 028-029 (19 Size of Pinhole Image, 20 Lens Image, 21 Curvature of Field)
  • p. 030-031 (22 Thin and Thick Lenses, 23 The Nodes of a Lens)
  • p. 032-033 (24 The Theory of the Equivalent Lens, 25 The Gauss Theory)
  • p. 034-035 (26 The Minor Points of a Lens)
• Chapter III. Focal Points and Distances
  • p. 036-037 (27 The Principal Foci of a Lens, 28 Focal Length and Focal Power)
  • p. 038-039 (29 Conjugate Foci)
  • p. 040-041 (30 Conjugate Focal Distances)
  • p. 042-043 (31 Popular Sign Convention, 32 The Standard Sign Convention)
  • p. 044-045 (33 Extra-Focal Distances, 34 Conjugate Symmetric Foci, 35 Conjugate Principal Foci, 36 The Cardinal Points of a Lens)
  • p. 046-047 (37 The Positions of the Nodes)
  • p. 048-049 (38 Equivalent Lenses)
• Chapter IV. Combining Lenses
  • p. 050-051 (39 Effect of Combining Lenses, 40 Nodal Contact and Separation)
  • p. 052-053 (41 Focal Length of Combination)
  • p. 054-055 (42 Nodes of a Combination)
  • p. 056-057 (43 Back-Focus of Combination, 44 Combination of More than Two Lenses, 45 Supplementary Lenses)
  • p. 058-059
• Chapter V. Aberration
  • p. 060-061 (46 The Primary Aberrations)
  • p. 062-063 (47 Secondary Aberrations, 48 Principles of Correction, 49 Positive and Negative Aberration)
  • p. 064-065 (50 General Principles of Compensation)
  • p. 066-067 (51 Curvature of the Field)
  • p. 068-069 (52 Spherical Aberration in Direct Pencils)
  • p. 070-071 (53 Spherical Aberration in Oblique Pencils)
  • p. 072-073
  • p. 074-075 (54 Coma)
  • p. 076-077 (55 Astigmatism)
  • p. 078-079
  • p. 080-081 (56 Explanatory Notes)
  • p. 082-083 (57 Chromatic Aberration, 58 Diaphragm Distortion)
  • p. 084-085
  • p. 086-087 (59 Effect of Aberration on the Action of Lenses, 60 Flare)
  • p. 088-089
  • p. 090-091
• Chapter VI. Scale, Intensity and Illumination
  • p. 092-093 (61 Scale of Image, 62 Enlargement and Reduction)
  • p. 094-095 (63 Relative Intensity of Illumination)
  • p. 096-097 (64 Relative Intensity and Exposure)
  • p. 098-099
  • p. 100-101 (65 Marking Apertures)
  • p. 102-103 (66 Uniformity of Illumination, 67 Angles and Circles of Illumination)
  • p. 104-105 (68 Angle and Circle of Definition)
  • p. 106-107 (69 View and Covering Angles, 70 Wide and Narrow Angle Lenses)
  • p. 108-109 (71 Covering Power)
• Chapter VII. Depth
  • p. 110-111 (72 Depth)
  • p. 112-113 (73 The Circle of Confusion, 74 Measurement of Depth, 75 Axial Depth)
  • p. 114-115
  • p. 116-117 (76 Consecutive Depths of Field)
  • p. 118-119 (77 Variations in Depth of Field, 78 Axial Depth of Definition)
  • p. 120-121 (79 Focussing, 80 Depth of Definition and Scale)
  • p. 122-123 (81 Definition Volume)
  • p. 124-125 (82 Use of Swingback, 83 Field Volume)
• Chapter VIII. Focussing-Scales
  p. 126-127 (84 Focussing-Scales, 85 The Infinity Mark) p. 128-129 (86 Distances Short of Infinity, 87 Selection of Distances) p. 130-131
• Chapter IX. Measuring Lenses
  • p. 132-133 (88 Measuring Lenses, 89 To Find the Principal Focus)
  • p. 134-135 (90 To Find the Nodes, 91 To Measure Focal Length, 92 Calculating Focal Length)
  • p. 136-137
  • p. 138-139
  • p. 140-141 (93 Measuring Effective Aperture of Lens, 94 Inconstancy of Aperture)
• Chapter X. Types of Lenses
  • p. 142-143 (95 Spectacle Lenses)
  • p. 144-145 (96 Landscape or View Lenses, 97 Rectilinear Lenses)
  • p. 146-147 (98 Anastigmatic Lenses, 99 Portrait Lenses, 100 Adjustable Lenses)
  • p. 148-149 (101 Telephoto Lenses)
  • p. 150-151 (102 Casket Lenses, 103 Convertible Lenses, 104 Nomenclature of Lenses)
• Appendix.
  • p. 152-153 ((A) Comparative Focal Lengths in Inches and Centimetres)
  • p. 154-155 ((B) Corresponding Focal Powers and Focal Lengths, (C) Scale Table of conjugate Focal Distances for a Lens of 1-in Focal Length)
  • p. 156-157 ((D) Relative Exposures for Different Scales of Image, (E, F, G, H) Systems of Marking Apertures (E): Uniform System)
  • p. 158-159 ((F) Dallmeyer System, (G) International Congress (C.I.) System)
  • p. 160-161 ((H) Zeiss Systems, (I) Rules for Marking Apertures)
  • p. 162-163 ((J) Table of Angles, (K) Diagonals of Stock Size Plates (Approximate), (L) Depth Constants in Inches and Feet)
  • p. 164-165 ((M) Consecutive Extra-Focal Depths for Aperture f8 (Approximate), (N) Approximate Infinity for Lenses of Various Focal Lengths)
  • p. 166-167 (Index)
  • p. 168-169
  • p. 170-171

Transcription Note

I scanned this volume at 1200 dpi in monochrome (cover in color) and saved the results as lossless PNG images. The scanning setup included an an Epson® "Perfection® 2400 PHOTO" flatbed scanner attached to a SuSE® 9.0 Linux® system. These images, which totalled 3.1 Gigabytes, were rotated, scaled, and converted to lossy JPEG images in batch using The GIMP and some GIMP Script Fu scripts. The resultant images, presented here, total about 18 Megabytes. I have not provided a single-file archive of them because of space concerns.

I made no attempt to make this scan "archival," or even very careful. Neither is it a scholarly edition (obviously). This is just a quick scan to make an old text available.

A Library of Antiquarian Technology