Tomoyuki Takashio
Production Engineering Department, Tochigi Nikon Corporation
Joined Tochigi Nikon Corporation in 1970. Reassigned to the process development section, which develops polishing technology, in 1998 after working on polishing lenses for cameras. Since 2002, he has been a technical instructor for Nikon Imaging (China) Co., Ltd. Appointed as Nikon Master Craftsperson in 2009.
The COOLPIX compact digital camera series includes models equipped with 10x zoom lenses housed in a thin camera body.
The lens tube of a camera lens contains various lens elements. These elements come in a variety of different types that have differing optical properties and specifications, such as surface shape, aperture and refractive index. Some zoom lenses for single-lens reflex cameras contain 20 or more lens elements.
The precision to which a lens element is polished has a major effect on the imaging capability of the lens. For this reason it is safe to say that Tomoyuki Takashio's lens-polishing is a vital lens-processing technique.
During lens-processing, press forging is used to shape the optical glass into the rough form of a lens. This is then ground so that it approximates to the final shape of the lens. Lens-polishing, which consists of two stages—lapping and final polishing—is then performed to make the lens correspond precisely with the lens shape required by the design. Prior to polishing, the surface of the optical glass is white and admits little light. After polishing, however, the surface is smooth and transparent, and exhibits a high degree of transmissivity.