The new Abakus Target lens was shown at IBC. You might however have seen through it before as it was used in the archery competition at a
major sporting event in August!Abakus News
The new Abakus Target lens was shown at IBC. You might however have seen through it before as it was used in the archery competition at a
major sporting event in August!
The lens was designed to fit right in the centre of the Bulls-eye of the archery targets so that the arrows could be "watched" coming straight towards the target. On the basis that the archers would be rather good at this event, so that they would stand a high possibility of hitting the centre of the target, the lens was designed to withstand the considerable force of arrows impacting the target, whilst not compromising the target in any way.
In order to transmit the superb, HD quality images of the event, a small, highly-efficient, optical borescope relay system was designed. This passes the HD quality images to the camera, which was situated out of harms way behind the target. With all this in mind it is not surprising that the lens body is very rugged, made from stainless steel. Although the borescope relay system part of the lens was both a mechanical and optical challenge, its design faded into insignificance in comparison with the criteria required for the front lens group.
The shape and form of the front of the lens is revolutionary. The front element itself is tiny ( a mere 2 mm in diameter) and yet incredibly powerful in optical terms. This and the rest of the front optical assemblage are housed in metal shaped like a jet fighter nose cone to withstand high energy impact. The front comes down to a point of only 2.5 mm with a sapphire window on the outside for maximum strength. The lens barrel is only 12 mm diameter over a length of over 230 mm.
All the purpose designed internal optics and metal body are made in the UK using only the best quality materials in order to guarantee the best attainable High Definition performance in a tiny package. This sophisticated, Abakus design achieves high definition quality when used on the Iconix HD-RH1F and similar 1/3", 3-chip, HD cameras.
We have formally and officially shortened our name to Abakus Ltd. Abakus Scientific has often been referred to as just Abakus, so it seemed sensible to make it official. Along with the name Abakus Ltd registered at Company House in London, we have also acquired an equivalent shortened website address which is www.abakus.co.uk. This name became available on Christmas Eve 2005, so we got it as a present to our long suffering customers, who have uncomplainingly used the much longer www.abakus-scientific.com. We hope that the new short version will be more convenient for everyone to use. e-mail:sales@abakus.co.uk.
We still have the same snail-mail address at, Grange Farm, Bourne Road, Carlby, Stamford PE9 4LU, UK
Stadium Lens Used at Twickenham
The Abakus Stadium lens is now used for rugby Internationals at Twickenham, as well as many International and Premier League football games.
(Picture courtesy of Sky Sports and RFU)
Abakus were very sad to hear about the demise of Optex Ltd, and that Optex had gone into liquidation on the day before Christmas Eve 2005, particularly as Optex were Abakus's very first customer when Abakus was founded in 1991. Since then Abakus did the optical design, assembly and testing of a variety of products which were sold by Optex and over badged by Optex. These products included the x1.2 Zeiss converter, x2 range extender, all the super-16 lenses (4mm, 5.5mm 8mm) and the High Definition "Excellence" Periscope/Borescope with all its special lenses (40mm, 28mm, 20mm, 14mm and 10mm).
We would appreciate direct feedback from past Optex customers regarding their future needs and wants for any of the above "Optex" products which were originated by Abakus. Customers may find it useful to know that Abakus still carry some spare optical components for these products.
Abakus can now offer new conversion kits for the Zeiss 10-100 16 mm lens to convert it to super 16 12-120. Click here for details.