jumbled up with the rays of neighbouring pencils. Now, though a good, sharp photograph may be taken through a pinhole, the time required is so long that photography of this sort has little practical value. What we want is a large hole for the light to enter the camera by, and yet to secure a distinct image. If we place a lens in the hole we can fulfil our wish. Fig. 107 shows a lens in position, gathering up a number of rays from a point, A, and focussing them on a point, B. If the lens has 1,000 times the area of the pinhole, it will pass 1,000 times as many rays, and the image of A will be impressed on a sensitized photographic plate 1,000 times more quickly.
THE IMAGE CAST BY A CONVEX LENS.
Fig. 108 shows diagrammatically how a convex lens forms an image. From A and B, the extremities of the object, a simple ray is considered to pass through the centre of the lens. This is not deflected at all. Two other rays from the same points strike the lens above and below the centre respectively. These are bent inwards and meet the central rays, or come to a focus with them at A1 and B1. In reality a countless number of rays would be transmitted from every point of the object and collected to form the image.
FOCUS.
We must now take special notice of that word heard so often in photographic talk—"focus." What is meant by the focus or focal length of a lens? Well, it merely signifies the distance between the optical centre of the lens and the plane in which the image is formed.