MidOpt, sharing its booth at VISION 2026 with sister company FJW Optical, showcased a range of its machine vision optical components at the Stuttgart show.
Taking pride of place was a prototype of the Find-R-Scope, a handheld specialised optical device for use in precision imaging applications across the industrial, scientific and automation sectors. Georgy Das, Director of Business Systems and Strategic Accounts, says: “We’re just a few weeks away from having a production model ready. It’s based on a successful product that FJW has been providing since the 1960s, but now features a SWIR camera built into the unit. This has opened up a whole new range of applications for the tool, particularly those that you wouldn’t be able to see with the naked eye, such as IR leakage in agriculture, fibre optics and more.”
For MidOpt itself, the newest product on show was the range of SiLWIR protective windows for long wave IR or thermal imaging in the 8-12μm range. “Traditionally, these products would be made from germanium,” explains Das. “There’s a supply issue with that material at the moment, so we’re making ours out of silicon, which is twice as durable as germanium. It’s less expensive, and most importantly, is much more readily available.”
The SiLWIR protective windows are available with specialised coatings: Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coatings offer excellent durability, scratch resistance and optical performance, making them ideal for harsh environments, while Anti-Reflection (AR) coatings reduce surface reflections, ensuring more light passes through the filter and into the sensor. Typical applications for this product range include defence, where they might be mounted on drones for use in surveillance, as well as healthcare and agriculture – “anywhere where you need to see through things and behind things,” says Das.
Indeed, defence is a sector that has grown significantly in the past couple of years for MidOpt. “Imaging technology is used on UAVs, drones and autonomous vehicles,” says Das. “We’re also seeing more and more robotics being used alongside vision. Since Covid, more and more companies, especially in the US, are looking to automation because of both labour shortages and rising costs. That’s been great news for our industry as a whole and for MidOpt in particular, as it has driven demand for our optical filters and protective windows.”
Das says VISION is a key event for them, especially since the sole dedicated show in the US has disappeared from calendars. “We’re meeting customers that have actual applications, who have questions about how to solve their problems with low contrast or low transmission, for example, or issues with glare or wavelength separation.
“We really put our growth down to our positioning as a major resource for customers – we’re not just here to sell products, we’re here to help answer those questions and show how our filters can address those applications.”
Das is also keen to point out that the quality of the products they provide sees customers come back again and again. “Our manufacturing process involves a hybrid coating and substrate method that ensures the angle of incidence is not an issue,” he says. “Other differentiators include how we design our passbands and how we inspect all our materials 100 per cent of the time for both performance and dimensional tolerances.”
Finally, Das says there’s one aspect above all others that sets MidOpt apart: “We are totally focussed on optical filters for machine vision,” he concludes. “You might find a lens company or a lighting company that also does filters, but we are wholly an optical filter company. Machine vision is our main sector.”
