Theia has leveraged its patented, award winning Linear Optical Technology? platform to offer all optical distortion correction in its new SL183 varifocal lens. Designed for 1/3”, 1/2.7” and up to 1/ 2.5” image sensors, the lens will provide from 77 to 115 degrees horizontal field of view, with less than 1% barrel distortion.
September 1, 2010 - Theia Technologies today announced the expansion of its line of ultra wide angle, no distortion, megapixel lenses with its new varifocal model.
Theia has leveraged its patented, award winning Linear Optical Technology(R) platform to offer all optical distortion 
correction in its new SL183 varifocal lens. Designed for 1/3”, 1/2.7” and up to 1/ 2.5” image sensors, the lens will provide from 77 to 115 degrees horizontal field of view, with less than 1% barrel distortion.
The varifocal lens will allow users more flexibility in camera placement and wide coverage of an area. In addition, the lens increases convenience with its True Zoom? capability: set focus once and the image remains in focus while zooming. And the lens does its work in a compact length of only 50mm from the CS mount - allowing it to fit in most mini-domes.
The new SL183 five megapixel lens furthers Theia's track record for supplying high quality megapixel lenses to the security industry and enabling crisp, high resolution images from megapixel cameras. Theia's lenses also provide increased resolution at the edge of the image compared to typical wide lenses which compress the image, losing information. This increases the probability of recognition of objects at the edge of the image.
The 115° wide field of view allows coverage of more area with one camera, reducing bandwidth, storage requirements, and installation costs of the whole system compared to the greater number of cameras required with other not-quite-as-wide lenses. Theia's Linear Optical Technology? optically corrects the barrel or fisheye distortion typical of other wide lenses, keeping straight lines straight without the use of software.
In addition to all-optical barrel distortion correction, the SL183 lens is IR corrected and can be used on Day/Night cameras (as well as on standard video cameras) to focus crisply in both visible and near Infrared (IR) light without having to re-focus the camera.
“Our new SL183 varifocal lens will be a powerhouse for the security industry, providing our patented distortion correction technology in a compact, full functionality lens. The lens is unique because it is the only one to offer this combination of capabilities - five megapixel resolution, an un-distorted wide angle image, True Zoom?, and Day/Night IR correction - all in a compact varifocal lens”, says Jeff Gohman, President and co-founder of Theia Technologies.