A tethered imaging camera encapsulated in a shell lens element of such camera enables viewing from inside and imaging of a biological organ in/from a variety of directions. A portion of camera's optical system together with light source(s) and optical detector mutually cooperated by housing structure inside the shell are moveable/re-orientable within the shell to vary a desired view of the object space without interruption of imaging process. A tether carries electrical but not optical signals to and from the camera and controllable traction cords to move the camera, and a hand-control unit and/or electronic circuitry configured to operate the camera and power its movements. Method(s) of using optical, optoelectronic, and optoelectromechanical sub-systems of the camera.

A medical endoscope including: an elongated shaft with a distal end region having a non-circular cross-section and a shaft main section arranged proximally from the distal end region, an at least one light guide having a plurality of individual fibres disposed longitudinally through the shaft, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of individual fibres in the distal end region are bonded over a length of at least 50% of the distal end region with an inflexible adhesive.

An image capturing assembly is provided and includes an image sensing device, a first circuit board, a second circuit board and a lens assembly. The image sensing device includes an electrical connecting component. The first circuit board includes a first contact. The image sensing device is mounted on the first circuit board, and the electrical connecting component is electrically connected to the first contact. The second circuit board includes a second contact. The second circuit board is affixed with the first circuit board and perpendicular to the first circuit board, and the second contact is electrically connected to the first contact, so that the second contact is electrically connected to the electrical connecting component by the first contact. The lens assembly is assembled with the image sensing device. Furthermore, a related endoscope is provided.

An objective lens for an endoscope includes only four lens groups as lens groups, and the four lens groups consist of a negative first lens group, a positive second lens group, a negative third lens group, and a positive fourth lens group that are arranged in this order from an object side. The first lens group is fixed and the second and third lens groups are moved during focusing on an object positioned at the nearest point from an object positioned at the farthest point. The objective lens for an endoscope satisfies a predetermined conditional expression related to a focal length of an entire system and a focal length of the third lens group.

An easy-to-assemble endoscope lens unit installed at a head tube of an insertion tube within an endoscope. The components of the endoscopic lens unit include a base having two extended holes, with each hole having an axis. The axes of the two extended holes being substantially parallel to one another, and each extended hole having an axis length that is greater than its radius length. The endoscopic lens unit further includes a camera lens, accommodated in one of the extended holes, with a front portion of the camera lens exposed at the base. Additionally, a projection lens is accommodated in the other extended hole, with the front portion of the projection lens also exposed at the base. The projection lens is used to project a projectile and display a predetermined pattern onto the projectile. An adhesive is applied to the base and at least one of the camera and projection lenses.

There is provided herein an optical system for a tip section of a multi-sensor endoscope, the system comprising: a front-pointing camera sensor; a front objective lens system; a side-pointing camera sensor; and a side objective lens system, wherein at least one of said front and side objective lens systems comprises a front and a rear sub-systems separated by a stop diaphragm, said front sub-system comprises, in order from the object side, a first front negative lens and a second front positive lens, said rear sub-system comprises, in order from the object side, a first rear positive lens, an achromatic sub-assembly comprising a second rear positive lens and a third rear negative lens, wherein the following condition is satisfied: f.sub.(first rear positive lens)≤1.8f, where f is the composite focal length of the total lens system and f.sub.(first rear positive lens) is the focal length of said first rear positive lens.

An imaging device (010, 10, 110) comprises a first optical system (020, 20, 120) at a distal end of the imaging device, a second optical system (080, 80, 180) towards the proximal end of the imaging device, and a sensor (074, 74, 174) at the proximal end of the imaging device. The first and second optical systems and the sensor are aligned along a common longitudinal axis. The first optical system is or comprises one or more reflective and/or refractive optical components (24, 124; 22, 122) symmetrically and/or coaxially arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis, and the second optical system comprises one or more reflective and/or refractive optical components (24, 124; 22, 122) for focussing incident light towards the sensor. A calibration system (200) and method for calibrating such an imaging device, and a method of processing image data obtained from such an imaging device are also provided.

A medical endoscopic instrument includes a distal elongated insertion section (1) for minimally invasive insertion into a human or animal body, with at least one LED (5) arranged in a distal end section of the insertion section (1), and a lens system (19) arranged distally of the LED (5) with an optical axis (x). The lens system (19) includes a first lens (29) and a second lens (31) arranged distally of the first lens (29). The second lens (31) has a proximally extending sleeve extension (35). The sleeve extension (35) has a first reference surface for positioning the second lens (31) in relation to the insertion section (1) and a second reference surface (39) for positioning the first lens (29) in relation to the second lens (31).

A borescope for use within an unlit, closed conduit can include an elongated probe, an artificial light source illuminating the conduit, and a microlens array mounted to the probe. An imaging device can be in data communication with the microlens array.

An endoscope includes an objective optical system provided in a distal end portion of an insertion portion, and a light splitting element configured to split a light beam from an objective optical system into a plurality of light beams including a first light beam and a second light beam. The first light beam is reflected by a reflection mirror, and is formed into an image on a first image pickup device. The second light beam is formed into an image on a second image pickup device. The first image pickup device and the second image pickup device are disposed adjacent to the light splitting element at positions different from each other with respect to an optical axis of the light beam from the objective optical system.