Brought into Focus at Lightning Speed: Variable focal length lenses enable rapid focusing when the working distance between the object and the camera system is frequently changing

Particularly during the mass manufacture of products, the working distance between an object and a camera system generally changes little or not at all. In these cases, the optical design of a vision system is relatively simple: The prevailing working distance the anddesired resolution are used to calculate the optical characteristics of the system which, after the selection of suitable components and integration into the installation, then performs its function without any further adaptation. While conversion of the installation to products with a different geometry requires a one‐time adaptation of the vision system, after that the installation runs optimally again without further intervention until the next change.