Jan. 22, 2026
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In recent years, optical designers have increasingly turned to aspheric elements in lens systems. The primary motivation behind this trend is straightforward: a single aspheric lens can often replace two or three spherical elements while maintaining—or even improving—overall system performance. This approach has proven highly effective in infrared and laser optics. However, when it comes to vision and imaging applications, the benefits of aspheric optics are not always as clear-cut.
Aspheric lenses are particularly effective at correcting spherical aberration, especially in wide-angle and large-aperture optical designs. From a purely optical performance perspective, they offer powerful corrective capabilities. That said, our experience shows that in many standard vision systems, the performance gains achieved by incorporating an aspheric element can be offset by its significantly higher cost. In practice, an aspheric lens often costs roughly twice as much as a comparable spherical lens element.
Spherical lenses feature surfaces with a constant radius of curvature across the entire lens. Depending on their geometry, they cause incoming light to either converge or diverge.
Concave spherical lenses have a negative focal length and cause incident light to diverge, forming virtual images.
Convex spherical lenses have a positive focal length and cause light to converge, producing real images and, in some cases, virtual images. Real images tend to be sharply focused, while virtual images are typically magnified.
The primary advantages of spherical lenses lie in their simpler surface geometry and lower manufacturing cost. These characteristics make them highly attractive for a wide range of imaging applications across diverse markets, especially where reliability, scalability, and cost-efficiency are key considerations.
At Sunday Optics, every new optical design begins with a critical evaluation of whether incorporating aspheric elements offers meaningful advantages over a purely spherical solution. Our conclusion, based on extensive design and production experience, is that aspheric optics are not the universal solution they are sometimes portrayed to be. While they certainly have an important role in modern optical design, they do not automatically enhance system performance or value.
In many cases, the most effective optical designs are those that meet all specification requirements using the simplest possible configuration. A well-optimized spherical lens system can often deliver excellent performance, lower cost, and greater manufacturability—making it the preferred choice for many vision applications.
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