In optics and photography, infinity focus is the state where a lens or other optical system forms an image of an object an infinite distance away. This corresponds to the point of focus for parallel rays. The image is formed at the focal point of the lens.
In practice, not all photographic lenses are capable of achieving infinity focus by design. A lens used with an adapter for close-up focusing, for example, may not be able to focus to infinity. Failure of the human eye to achieve infinity focus is diagnosed as myopia.
All optics are subject to manufacturing tolerances; even with perfect manufacture, optical trains experience thermal expansion. Focus mechanisms must accommodate part variations; even custom-built systems may have some means of adjustment. For example, telescopes such as the Mars Orbiter Camera, which are nominally set to infinity, have thermal controls. Deviations from its operating temperature are actively compensated to prevent shifts of focus.
Famous quotes containing the words infinity and/or focus:
“We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will, therefore, always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in pursuit of it. No, we are complicated machines; and though we have one main spring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometime stop that motion.”
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“While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)