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andywhiteley
Up and Coming
August 23, 2014

Oculus Lens Improvements

Received the Oculus DK2 this week and have been absolutely blown away by it.
The best experience has been with Elite: Dangerous and Half Life2, the immersion is spot on.
Motion sickness is a problem at first but I slowly introduced myself into it. First 5 then 10 and 20 minutes etc

There are 3 very noticeable shortfalls however to the DK2.
1. The chromatic aberration round the outside of the lenses, where you see red, green and blue separation and blur.
2. The screen door effect where you can see pixels.
3. The juddering effect even at a refresh rate of 75.

I found that the B lenses are best for me with less chromatic aberration.
I was wondering what type and quality of lenses are in the Oculus?
SLR cameras obviously take a much better picture with high quality lenses.
Higher quality lenses would get rid of the chromatic aberration seen on the current Oculus.
If it comes down to consumer costing, an upgraded high quality lens package could be offered to hardcore users.

Let me know your thoughts.
Andy.

    29 replies

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    SBAM
    Participant
    October 22, 2014
    Okay, first of all excuse my approximative translation from french to english ;)

    Below are picture of various lenses put under a tensiometer:

    Regular organic lens

    This just illustrates how a regular organic lens that you could buy to an optician reacts under a tensiometer. Basically no halo are visible except on the edges. This is due to how the frame tighly straps the lens.

    Oculus DK2 lens

    This is the Oculus DK2 lens. After measuring it with a focimeter, this +27 diopter lens clearly shows flaws. This huge constringence is usually seen on polycarbonate lens.
    This also explains why these lenses are so easily scratchable, even when cleaning it with the micro-fiber tissue given along with OculusDK2 package. This material is in fact fairly fragile.
    Also, note that type A and type B lenses are identical (same diopter). What differs is simply the distance to the screen.

    +20 & +7 organic stacked lenses

    These are just two organic lenses stacked one on top of the other. +20 & +7 diopter lenses.
    They show no constringence at all next to OculusDK2 lens. Also, it's very hard to show here but they're much more aspherical so there's almost no blur on the edges when looking through them.



    So basically, cheap polycarbonate lenses are the root cause of scratches.
    This material also has a very high constringence. This forces DK2 software to correct them but keep in mind that a good organic lens would make that correction step un-necessary.
    Finally, OculusDK2 lenses are very spherical. Imagine a sphere that was cut, one face (close to your eye) would be a plane, the other face would be a portion of a sphere. This cheap cut generates lots of blur on edges. More modern technics would make a much more asphercial cut that would generate very little blur on the edges (which is now my main concern about the VR experience) :D
    zalo
    Up and Coming
    October 23, 2014
    Where did you get the +20 and +7 organic lenses?

    I would like to experiment; no blur at the edges sounds awesome!
    ElectricMucus
    Up and Coming
    October 29, 2014
    "SBAM" wrote:

    This is the Oculus DK2 lens. After measuring it with a focimeter, this +27 diopter lens clearly shows flaws. This huge constringence is usually seen on polycarbonate lens.
    This also explains why these lenses are so easily scratchable, even when cleaning it with the micro-fiber tissue given along with OculusDK2 package. This material is in fact fairly fragile.

    I can't see how you can judge the scratch resistance by tensiometer measurements and doubt that it's related to the optical quality to the regard that it matters for the rift. I particularly don't think it's related to blurred edge because I don't think tensions in the material can lead to such severe fluctuations in the refractive index to the extent that it matters for image clarity for the DK2.

    "SBAM" wrote:
    Finally, OculusDK2 lenses are very spherical. Imagine a sphere that was cut, one face (close to your eye) would be a plane, the other face would be a portion of a sphere. This cheap cut generates lots of blur on edges. More modern technics would make a much more asphercial cut that would generate very little blur on the edges (which is now my main concern about the VR experience) :D


    I think that they are spherical lenses is probably the main culprit. And I agree that an aspheric version of that same lens would give us a much more clearer image. I also don't really think it's gonna increase costs significantly, the lenses are probably (injection) molded and it does not matter what form is used for that. The only thing that has to be done is machining the molds which won't be a huge cost factor.
    Scofthe7seas
    Up and Coming
    October 30, 2014
    Maybe this is just me, but I don't remember this being an issue in the DK1...
    ElectricMucus
    Up and Coming
    November 5, 2014
    "Scofthe7seas" wrote:
    Maybe this is just me, but I don't remember this being an issue in the DK1...

    The DK2 is supposed to have lenses with a lower diopter factor which comes with less artifacts.
    SBAM
    Participant
    November 5, 2014
    "ElectricMucus" wrote:
    I can't see how you can judge the scratch resistance by tensiometer measurements and doubt that it's related to the optical quality to the regard that it matters for the rift.


    There are indeed no relationship. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I guess this was a surprise for nobody but the picture with DK2 lens under tensiometer simply shows how polycarbonate typically reacts. It's just there to help deduce what material DK2 lenses are made of. And polycarbonate is fragile, hence the relationship between scratches and material.

    "ElectricMucus" wrote:
    I also don't really think it's gonna increase costs significantly


    Well, unfortunately big companies like nikon, essilor, etc... have fairly pricy lenses. But hey, these are excellent quality ;)
    SBAM
    Participant
    November 5, 2014
    "zalo" wrote:
    Where did you get the +20 and +7 organic lenses?
    I would like to experiment; no blur at the edges sounds awesome!


    I visited an optician.
    I didn't ask how much that would cost to cut a bespoke lens with such a big dioptre. But they're used to these unusual lenses, for example disabled people, who are almost blind, have weird lenses that cannot be mounted on a frame.
    ElectricMucus
    Up and Coming
    November 6, 2014
    "SBAM" wrote:
    "ElectricMucus" wrote:
    I also don't really think it's gonna increase costs significantly


    Well, unfortunately big companies like nikon, essilor, etc... have fairly pricy lenses. But hey, these are excellent quality ;)


    I wasn't suggesting buying the lenses from them, but rather have oculus or their Chinese contractor produce them. This is not about making high end lenses by complicated grinding techniques which can cost thousands, but rather using the same production process already used to make the current lenses, just with more complicated molds. In some way or another there has to be a mold machined before the injection molding process, and if the mold is machined into an aspheric form it would work all the same.
    This means the overall batch costs may go up a little because the mold is more expensive to machine but it won't get multiplied by quantity, each lens would add the same amount as before to the batch costs.
    hstamati
    New Participant
    November 7, 2014
    Another reason to go with the plastic lenses is not only cost but weight.

    In astronomy, you can find coveted "Nagler" eyepieces that retail for $500 EACH that have virtually no chromatic aberration, no coma, and no blur, with over 100 deg FOV. These things have many (6+) lens elements made of different types of glass. They weigh from 1/2 pound to 1 pound EACH.
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