CAMERA WITH IMPROVED ILLUMINATOR

摘要

An illumination and imaging system (209) is provided with a co-axial illuminator (236) that does not include a beamsplitter. The co-axial illuminator (236) achieves efficiencies substantially in excess of those achieved with a beamsplitter. In one aspect, an optical stop (246) is used to reflect illumination upon a target. The optical stop (246) includes an aperture (248) allowing light reflected from the target to pass to a detector (230). The aperture (248) of the stop (246) has an asymmetrical feature that facilitates operation on specular targets.