Brand Name
The brand name isn't really needed but I'm choosing to make one anyway to show that the lens designs and research is mine! Company and brand names in the photographic industry usually come from real names of places or people. Big western camera businesses (I am focusing on western names as Japanese camera manufacturers have their names translated which destroys their original meaning), such as Eastman-Kodak, Hasselblad, Leica, Carl Ziess, are all based on the names of their founders, either being their name or a mix of their name and a word associated with their business. A perfect example is Leica, started by Ernst Leitz. His surname was mixed with the word 'camera' to result in Lei-ca.
My name is Alexander Stewart. After talking with friends, people thought that branding my products as Stewart was a good idea. However, for me it doesn't really sound right. It doesn't ring in the ears or have much association with the products i'm designing. Therefore I thought I would do as other businesses do and mix my name. The obvious choice would be Lexar, from Alex and Stewart. But eh'up, Lexar sounds familiar doesn't it?? That's out of the question then. I like the sound of having a vowel at the end of my name to soften the tone, so I experimented mixing a dozen camera related terms with my name. Many were already being used in the photographic industry, so in the end only one seemed to work. Alexica. Alex mixed with Optical. It sounds a little close to Leica, but what can you do? It also may come across as vanity at first, but as I have explained here, this is how it's usually done. People invest in the talent and skills of people, and giving a brand a name that sounds like a person establishes a sense of trust (as I was told in an interview at Huddersfield University). No one wants their business name to sound like a faceless multinational. Therefore, going forward, my over riding brand name for my prototypes is:
alexica.
Specification
As I continue my research and start to build up a stack of optical designs both physically and virtually, I need a way to keep track of which design does what. I have decided to make a simple little system to detail the specification of each of my designs. Up until now my lenses have been singlets, but from now on my lens designs will be multi-elemental. Therefore the naming scheme will presume the lens is an ML (Multi-Lens) design rather than a SL (Single-Lens) system. Below is an example of the naming scheme I have come up with for prime lenses (top) and zoom lenses (bottom), followed by a bullet point explanation of each part:
50.2'8 PMMA-PC (5) {2} EF
18.3'5 < 55.5'6 PMMA-PC (8) {2} EF
Prime Lens Name Scheme
- 50 - This number refers to the focal length measured in millimeters of the lens.
- 2'8 - This is the widest aperture that the lens can operate at. Focal length and max aperture are separated by a point, and the
- PMMA-PC - This is the material specification. PMMA is basicly acrylic plastic, and PC is polycarbonate. Sometimes the lens will be just made of one material. Other designs may make use of doublets which use two materials dubbed 'Crown' and 'Flint'. In these designs the two materials will both be listed in the design name, separated by a hyphen, with the 'Crown' being listed first.
- (5) - This is the element count. This is useful for me to separate similar designs (such as muliple 50.2'8 designs).
- {2} - This is the aspherical element count. These are not additional element, but simply a count of how many of the total elements in the design feature aspherical surfaces.
- EF - This is the mount type. Usually this will be left off, as I am currently designing my lenses to be interchangeable between mount housings.
Zoom Lens Name Scheme
- The scheme is the same apart from changes to the start of the name, detailed below.
- 18.3'5 - The first set of numbers reffers to the specification of the lens at it's widest focal length.
- < - This marker implies that the first set of numbers is the shorter end of the focal length while the second set is the longer.
- 55.5'6 - This is the specification of the telephoto end of the zoom range.
Finally, here is an example of the naming scheme in use next to a CAD render of one of my designs:
