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Chapter 2: Problem 15

When you focus a camera, you adjust the distance of the lens from the film. If the camera lens acts like a thin lens, why can it not be a fixed distance from the film for both near and distant objects?

Short Answer

Expert verified
The lens of a camera needs to adjust its distance from the film based on the object's distance to focus the light rays properly onto the film. This creates a sharp image regardless of how near or far the object being photographed is.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the behavior of a thin lens

A thin lens follows the principle of optics that states, for an image to be focused, the light rays coming from a point on the object must converge at a point on the image. When an object is at different distances, the degree of convergence or divergence of these light rays changes. Thus, in order to maintain a focused image, the lens must be adjusted to accommodate this change.
02

Animalize the need for lens adjustment

If the lens is fixed at a certain distance from the film, it is only capable of focusing light rays from objects at a specific distance, namely, the focal length of the lens. For objects at different distances, the light rays would not meet at the image plane leading to a blurred image. Therefore, to keep the image clear, the lens has to adjust by moving closer to or further from the film based on the position of the object.
03

Draw the conclusion from the analysis

The distance of the lens from the film determines the focal length and hence is criticial in gaining the object in focus. As object distances change, to ensure a focused image, the lens position must also change.

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