12mm 10MP C-Mount Lens for Machine Vision Inspection

Clear and stable imaging is essential for reliable machine vision inspection. This 12mm 10MP industrial lens is designed for electronics inspection, precision measurement, component recognition, positioning and automated production line applications.

With support for 2/3-inch image sensors, a standard C-mount interface and manual focus and iris adjustment, the lens can be integrated into a wide range of industrial camera and machine vision systems .

This is a POMEAS product announcement rather than a technical guide. The full specification, drawing and ordering code for this lens are on the MH2812-10MP 12 mm 2/3-inch 10 MP C-mount FA lens product page. For focal length, FOV and sensor matching background, see the POMEAS technical guides index — Machine Vision Optics Technical Guides (20 Articles).

High-Resolution Imaging for Machine Vision

The lens is designed to capture fine component details, clear object edges and stable image information. It is suitable for inspection tasks that require reliable visual data for image processing, measurement and automated decision-making.

• Surface defect inspection
• Component presence and absence detection
• Positioning and alignment
• Dimensional measurement
• Edge and contour inspection
• Electronic component recognition

12mm Focal Length and 2/3-Inch Sensor Support

The 12mm focal length provides a practical balance between field of view and image detail. The lens supports 2/3-inch, 1/2-inch and 1/3-inch image sensor formats, allowing it to be used with different industrial cameras.

The specified angular field of view is:

• 2/3-inch sensor: 49.2° × 40.3° × 30.8°
• 1/2-inch sensor: 36.9° × 29.9° × 22.7°
• 1/3-inch sensor: 28.1° × 22.7° × 17.1°

Manual Focus and Iris Control

Independent manual focus and iris rings provide flexible control during machine vision system setup. The focus can be adjusted according to the working distance, while the F2.8–16 iris range helps control image brightness and depth of field.

This design is suitable for inspection systems with different lighting conditions, target heights and installation requirements.

420–1000 nm Spectral Response

The lens supports a broad spectral response from 420 to 1000 nm, covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It can therefore be used with different industrial lighting solutions to improve image contrast and reveal target details.

Low-Distortion Industrial Imaging

Low optical distortion helps preserve the shape, position and edge information of inspected objects. When used with a 2/3-inch sensor, the specified distortion is approximately 0.037% at y=5.5 mm.

This makes the lens suitable for positioning, measurement, contour analysis and other applications where image geometry is important.

Typical Machine Vision Applications

• PCB and electronic component inspection
• Precision metal part inspection
• Automated production line inspection
• Component positioning and recognition
• Industrial dimensional measurement
• Robot-guided inspection systems
• Appearance and surface defect inspection
• Automated machine vision systems

Technical Specifications

Field of View by Sensor Format and Working Distance

Datasheets quote field of view as an angle, but a line engineer has to compare it with the part envelope in millimetres. For a fixed 12 mm focal length the two are linked by FOV = 2 × WD × tan(θ/2), where θ is the published angle for the sensor in use. The table below applies that relation to the three published angles of this lens — 49.2° × 40.3° × 30.8° on 2/3 inch, 36.9° × 29.9° × 22.7° on 1/2 inch and 28.1° × 22.7° × 17.1° on 1/3 inch — so every field figure in the table is derived rather than a catalogue value. The approximation can be checked against published data: at the 0.15 m minimum focus the specified object size on a 2/3-inch sensor is 140.5 × 112.4 × 84.3 mm (diagonal × horizontal × vertical), which agrees with the calculated 150 mm row to within a few percent.

Because the relation is linear in working distance, each additional 100 mm of WD widens the 2/3-inch horizontal field by about 73 mm, and removing 100 mm shortens it again. Two practical consequences follow. First, a field requirement is really a working-distance requirement: pick the distance the machine can afford, then read the field. Second, the field is set by the sensor as much as by the lens — halving the sensor width halves the field at the same distance, which is why a 1/3-inch camera on this lens sees roughly 120 mm across at 300 mm instead of 220 mm. Drawing, mount and ordering code are on the MH2812-10MP product page.

Three Checks Before You Specify This Lens

1. Cover the part, not just the feature under test

A 12 mm lens at 300 mm covers roughly 220 × 165 mm on 2/3 inch — a 200 mm board plus fixture, and not much more. Keep 10–20% margin so that part-placement tolerance and camera mounting tolerance cannot push a corner out of frame. If the margin does not fit, the working distance has to grow, and that immediately costs object-side sampling: the field grows in direct proportion, so the same 10 MP is spread over a larger part. Decide the margin before the camera, not after the first image.

2. Match the sensor format to the field you actually need

At a fixed distance a smaller sensor crops the field instead of magnifying the image, because the focal length does not change. On 1/3 inch the field is about 55% of the 2/3-inch width at the same working distance, so the same pixel count lands on a smaller part area and samples it more finely. When the inspection is feature-limited rather than field-limited, a smaller sensor is the cheaper way to gain resolution; when it is field-limited, the answer is more working distance or a shorter focal length. Sensors larger than 2/3 inch fall outside the specified image circle. If one fixed field cannot serve both a wide locating view and a close measurement view, a variable-magnification lens is the alternative — see the 6.5X industrial zoom lens note, and the PCB AOI lens upgrade comparison where a fixed 12 mm was chosen against an 8 mm option for a specific board size.

3. Check the working distance and the sampling against the tolerance

The focus range is 0.15 m to infinity, with 8.43 mm back focal length in air and an M27 × P0.5 filter thread, so the mechanical envelope is easy to fit but the close end is not generous. Sampling follows object pixel size = pixel pitch × WD ÷ f. With a 3.45 µm-pixel camera at 300 mm that works out to about 86 µm per pixel, which is comfortable for presence/absence, orientation and coarse position, but not for 10 µm metrology — those figures are derived, and the pixel pitch has to be taken from the camera datasheet. Geometric fidelity is not the limit here: the specified distortion of 0.037% at y = 5.5 mm corresponds to roughly 40 µm of lateral error at the edge of a 220 mm field, so lens distortion sits below the sampling error in most of these setups.

Frequently asked questions

What field of view does this 12 mm lens give at 300 mm working distance?

About 220 × 165 mm on a 2/3-inch sensor, derived from the published 40.3° × 30.8° angular field (FOV = 2 × 300 × tan(θ/2)). At the same distance a 1/2-inch sensor sees about 160 × 120 mm and a 1/3-inch sensor about 120 × 90 mm, so the sensor format and the working distance together set the final field.

Which sensor formats can the MH2812-10MP be used with?

2/3 inch (11 mm diagonal), 1/2 inch and 1/3 inch. The published angular fields are 49.2° × 40.3° × 30.8° for 2/3 inch, 36.9° × 29.9° × 22.7° for 1/2 inch and 28.1° × 22.7° × 17.1° for 1/3 inch. A sensor larger than 2/3 inch is outside the specified image circle, so it would vignette rather than add field.

How close can the lens focus, and how large is the object at that distance?

The focus range is 0.15 m to infinity, adjusted manually. At the 0.15 m minimum the specified object size on a 2/3-inch sensor is 140.5 × 112.4 × 84.3 mm (diagonal × horizontal × vertical), so a part larger than that envelope has to be imaged from further away or with a shorter focal length.

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Select the Right Lens for Your Inspection System

Lens selection depends on the camera sensor size, field of view, working distance, target size and required inspection accuracy.

For additional technical information, read this guide to understanding focal length and field of view .

Provide your camera model, sensor size, working distance and inspection area to the POMEAS machine vision team . We will help you select a suitable optical solution for your inspection system.

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