I've read a bit on Fresnel lenses, but I still have some unanswered questions...If I have a 17" monitor, what size Fresnel lense is needed? Is bigger better or are they only effective if roughly the same size as your monitor? Are there different quality of lenses? If so, how are they rated? Any other tips/advice/links on Fresnel lenses for flight sim use would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,Dan

DanHere is some information about using lenses: http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/scenery_display_1.htm . You might also want to take a look at Rick Lee's site: http://www.rickleephoto.com/rlcoll.htm There is a link at the bottom of the page for a Boeing paper that discusses use of Fresnel lenses in an application that looks remarkably like Bugeye Technologies (for good reason, Bugeye's a Boeing spinoff)You'll find links to Fresnel lens suppliers here: http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/links_1.htm 2/3 down the page.Fresnel lenses are made in different qualities. Most products in the consumer category are not graded in any meaningful way that I have seen. Fresnel lenses from optical houses will be documented by grooves per inch and focal length.The size you get depends on how you plan on using it. An 8 by 10 page manifier from Office Depot is a plastic Fresnel lens that is useful for experimentation, but would seem marginal for full immersion. Focal length, monitor placement, your objectives, etc. all enter the equation. This is a great area for experimentation. Combining large Fresnel lenses with DeltaFlight's approach with large TV monitors may well hit a sweet spot in the price-performance spectrum for high quality/low cost scenery display.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

Mike,As always thanks for all this useful Information!! Ok one question if you where to make a similar setup like Michael Lehkamp did, what size of Fresnells would you need??Roberto

Hi Roberto,First, a caveat: I have only played around with an 8 1/2" by 11" Fresnel lens, so I do not consider myself an expert by any means. Hopefully, we'll have some experienced people add to the thread.That said, I would start looking for something on the order of the size of the monitor being used, perhaps a bit larger. Rather than using the lens to affect a true collimated display, I would just use it to slightly magnify each screen so that the adjacent virtual images appeared to touch. This should give an almost continuous panoramic external scene. By placing the lenses so they magnify only a little, geometric aberration should be relatively small.If paragraph 2 sounds like I know what I'm talking about, please read paragraph 1 again.Are you planning on experimenting with Fresnel lenses?Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

What you need is this: www.pookiedom.com/homecockpitThe monitor is a 21" monitor and the lens is "plenty big" for it. I've currently got the lens about 1 foot from the screen and I sit about 2 feet from the lens. It makes the monitor look about 2x the size. I love it.I got the lens at a medical supply store in Austin, TX. This store specializes in vision impaired medical supplies. They had tons of stuff, like magnifiers, telephones with HUGE buttons, etc.Hope this helps and good luck.

Excellent! Looks very nice. Thanks for posting links to the pictures.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com