Optics Calculators

Optics describes what light does at a boundary and inside an imaging system. Snell's law (n₁sinθ₁ = n₂sinθ₂) gives the angle a ray bends to when it crosses between two media, and the thin-lens equation (1/f = 1/do + 1/di) locates the image a lens forms and how magnified it is.

Optics calculators

When to reach for these

Reach for these when you are designing or debugging something that has to focus: working out why an object looks displaced under water, or where a lens of a known focal length must sit to put an object in focus. Both results assume a single wavelength (refractive index varies slightly with colour) and an ideal thin lens with no aberration.