Patent ID: 8154805

Claim:
An optical system arranged to collect radiation emanating from an object space and deliver said radiation to an image surface in an image space along a common optical axis, comprising: a first variable power optical component that is stationary on the common optical axis, comprising at least two liquids with different refractive properties and at least one contact surface between the two liquids, wherein the shape of the contact surface is varied to produce a change of optical power in the first variable power optical component, resulting in a variation of a chief ray angle approaching an image point on the image surface; and a second variable power optical component comprising at least two liquids with different refractive properties and at least one contact surface between the two liquids, wherein the shape of the contact surface is varied to reduce the variation in the chief ray angle at the image point on the image surface caused by varying the shape of the first variable power optical component, wherein the shape of the first variable power optical component is varied to provide a zoom function and the zoom range is greater than about 3×.