{"id":338797,"date":"2024-05-05T11:29:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T09:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cined.com\/?p=338797"},"modified":"2024-05-23T10:54:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T08:54:29","slug":"the-art-science-of-lenses-a-new-course-available-on-mzed-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.cined.dev\/jp\/the-art-science-of-lenses-a-new-course-available-on-mzed-now\/","title":{"rendered":"\u30ec\u30f3\u30ba\u306e\u30a2\u30fc\u30c8\u3068\u30b5\u30a4\u30a8\u30f3\u30b9 – MZed\u3067\u65b0\u3057\u3044\u30b3\u30fc\u30b9\u304c\u53d7\u8b1b\u53ef\u80fd\u306b"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most filmmakers are familiar with basic lens specifications: focal length, aperture, zoom\/prime… On the other hand, when we talk about coatings, types of glass, diffraction, breathing, and other advanced terms, even experienced cinematographers may become confused. Lens manufacturers make it easy for us to use their tools without much theory required. But the more we learn, the deeper our understanding of optical phenomena is, and the wider our storytelling kit becomes. Ultimately, we can communicate our creative choices much more easily. That\u2019s what Tal Lazar\u2019s new course, \u201cThe Art & Science of Lenses\u201d on MZed.com<\/a> is all about. In this article, we offer you a sneak peek into the first module, which helps to understand light, how it behaves, and why it is an important foundation for using lenses to their full potential.<\/strong><\/p><338797-inline-buylinks\/>\n\n

Tal Lazar<\/a> is a seasoned cinematographer and educator, who combines practical knowledge with his teaching experience at leading film schools (Columbia University, Sundance Institute, and the American Film Institute, to name a few). His new course on MZed.com<\/a> is a very technical one, yet Tal finds ways to make it entertaining and easy to understand. So, don\u2019t worry if you skipped physics class in high school. You will gain foundational knowledge in this course in no time and will then be able to apply it to lenses.<\/p>\n\n

Click here to watch \u201cThe Art & Science of Lenses\u201d on MZed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The Art & Science of Lenses \u2013 starts with light<\/h2>\n\n

Lenses are tools that manipulate light. That\u2019s why Tal Lazar begins his course with a question: \u201cWhat is light?\u201d If we can understand how it behaves, we\u2019ll be able to explain the different optical effects that lenses sometimes have and why manufacturers make certain decisions. Put very simply:<\/p><338797-mzed-course\/>\n\n

\n

Light is a form of energy that is emitted by a source, like the sun, and received by our eyes.<\/p>\nTal Lazar<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n

So, light travels through space. The problem is \u2013 we can\u2019t properly see this process. That\u2019s why over the ages, there have been a bunch of contradictory theories (including wild ones, such as the idea that our eyes emit rays of light and that\u2019s how we can see things. Spoiler alert: no, they don\u2019t). We\u2019ll skip the history recap here and narrow it down to two major ways of understanding light\u2019s essence.<\/p>\n\n

Light is made out of particles<\/h2>\n\n

Yes, the first basic theory originally belonged to Isaac Newton. He suggested that light was a stream of particles emanating from a light source and moving in straight lines through space. This is actually easy to demonstrate. Just take a lamp and a mirror, or go to a wall and cast a shadow onto it.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Tal Lazar \/ MZed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

See? We can easily predict how light will be reflected (and if you\u2019ve ever played pool, you have already used the same calculations). It is also possible to connect shadow to a light source in a straight line. As Tal Lazar explains, scientists (and technicians) call this phenomenon of light traveling \u2013 rectilinear propagation.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Tal Lazar \/ MZed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

“But the light is waves!”<\/h2>\n\n

\u2013 you may argue and would be correct. The second major theory states that light behaves similarly to waves. Several scientists contributed to this way of thinking, but it was Thomas Young who put a big fat point to the argument with his double-slit experiment in 1801. He set up two screens: one behind the other. The first screen had two tiny holes. The scientist cast light through them and got this result:<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Tal Lazar \/ MZed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Instead of getting two blurry light spots, as expected, the second screen showed lines with different intensities. The particle theory suddenly didn\u2019t make sense anymore. This behavior resembled waves. When two waves meet, a new, bigger wave is created. Where a peak and a dip meet \u2013 they cancel each other out. It is called interference. What happened in the experiment with light got the name \u201cdiffraction\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

The wave-particle duality of light<\/h2>\n\n

Yet, even that wasn\u2019t the end of light exploration. Years later, Albert Einstein discovered that sometimes light could move electrons, just like electricity. (This so-called photoelectric effect won him a Nobel prize). The only possibility to explain it was that light traveled in particles, not waves. Wait, what?<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Tal Lazar \/ MZed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

That\u2019s how a new concept was born, namely \u2013 the wave-particle duality of light. Sometimes light behaves like a stream of particles (for example, in reflection, which we discussed above), whereas other behaviors of light can only be explained as the one of waves (diffraction phenomenon, for instance).<\/p>\n\n

The visible spectrum<\/h2>\n\n

So, when we speak of light, we have different characteristics to discuss. First, light particles are called photons, and we know that unlike traditional waves, they can travel everywhere, even in a vacuum.<\/p>\n\n

At the same time, there are different light wavelengths that are measured from one peak to another in nanometers (an extremely small unit):<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Tal Lazar \/ MZed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Tal Lazar explains that anything below 400 or above 700 nanometers is not visible to our eye. The range in between is what we perceive as different colors, depending on a particular wavelength. The famous children\u2019s question, \u201cWhy is the grass green?\u201d can be answered: \u201cBecause it reflects the wavelength that makes the color green and absorbs the rest of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Apart from that, light travels at a particular speed (which changes, for example, when light is bent by lenses), and it has a frequency (the amount of waves passing a point in space per second measured in hertz).<\/p>\n\n

Other modules of the Art & Science of Lenses<\/h2>\n\n

Now, we can\u2019t see all these tiny waves or photons. However, by understanding how light works, it\u2019s easier to predict how it will interact with matter (absorbed, reflected, transmitted, scattered, or refracted?) And then \u2013 how lenses operate and why they, for instance, create virtual images. But that\u2019s another topic. In nearly 6 hours of \u201cThe Art & Science of Lenses\u201d you will also:<\/p>\n\n