Wide Field, High Quality, Low Cost HMD Optics

[Tone]

I while back I published "LEEP On The Cheap", a proof-of-concept for wide field, low cost optics. In the spirit of VRtifacts, I didn't invent it, just dredged it up from VR's prehistoric times. LOTC suffered from poor optical qualities, primarily chromatic aberration and distortion... but I did warn ya!

So... I'm back at it, demoing and explaining another old-school design for wide field (65 deg), really high quality optics, and really low cost. There's a DIY video and vendor sources supplied. For $9.50 (direct from Surplus Shed) you too can DIY. Have a look...

http://www.vrtifacts.com/hmds/awesome-v ... n-dollars/

[cybereality]

Awesome video, as always. May have to check those optics out when I get a chance. Had some plans for building an HMD myself, but probably gonna just wait for the Rift now. Maybe later I will resume work, so this looks like a cheap and easy fix.

[android78]

I love the video. The only think missing is a ray diagram to explain how the optic system of this works. I know I can probably draw it myself, but I'm too lazy.

[android78]

Never mind the ray diagram, good ol' wiki has a good one for me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyepiece

[android78]

I'm just wondering if, to use a smaller display, could you increase the distance between the lens closest to the eye and the next lens?

[PalmerTech]

Great video! As phones get higher and higher resolution, you could use a pair of these to make a nice 3D viewer.

[Tone]

I'm just wondering if, to use a smaller display, could you increase the distance between the lens closest to the eye and the next lens?

That does not seem to work at all. The magnification remains approximately the same, but the FOV is reduced (because the "next lens" is vignetted inside the view through the eye lens.)

For a smaller display, you'd want a shorter focal length eyepiece, but the "gotcha" is that the lens diameter will likely be smaller, reducing the eye relief and forcing a much stricter alignment of the eyepiece to the pupil.