12-01-2010, 01:26 PM
[quote name='Rainer' timestamp='1291205074' post='4644']
This is not how diffraciton works.
Diffraction does not "bend" the light so it falls outside of the area covered by the sensor ... it distributes
the light in a way that the remaining image is less sharp, bit it does not take away any light.
Imagine a single very small photocell, and a single very small lightbeam ... if this lightbeam is
distributed (by diffraciton) over a larger area, its intensity indeed decreases ... but ... in reality there
are all that neighbour-lightbeams that now also got distributed over larger areas ... so ... what you
lose from one beam, you get more from another.
[/quote]
Right. Ok, it probably will sound really stupid now, but does the image circle projected by the lens expand due to diffraction?
This is not how diffraciton works.
Diffraction does not "bend" the light so it falls outside of the area covered by the sensor ... it distributes
the light in a way that the remaining image is less sharp, bit it does not take away any light.
Imagine a single very small photocell, and a single very small lightbeam ... if this lightbeam is
distributed (by diffraciton) over a larger area, its intensity indeed decreases ... but ... in reality there
are all that neighbour-lightbeams that now also got distributed over larger areas ... so ... what you
lose from one beam, you get more from another.
[/quote]
Right. Ok, it probably will sound really stupid now, but does the image circle projected by the lens expand due to diffraction?