Image formation in fundus cameras.

Abstract

Imaging in a fundus camera depends more on design of the system than on correction of the first fundus image as formed by the ophthalmoscopic lens. We show here that the designer may use the free parameters of the ophthalmoscopic lens (contact or noncontact) to correct the latter for observation and illumination of the fundus. In both contact and noncontact systems the fundus is illuminated by forming a ring of light on the patient's cornea around a central area (the corneal window) reserved for observation. On the first surface of the crystalline lens, the light also forms a ring which must accomodate the total entrance pupil (TEP) of the observation system in its middle and which is limited on the outside by the patient's iris. The restrictions that result from this situation define the entrance pupil of the bundle of rays that image the marginal point of the retina. The limits of this bundle are imposed by the choice of the angular field of view and by the size of the patient's pupil.