Lenzfx
Scott,
I don't mean to swamp you, but you inquired.
<<The image reflected doesn't gain any special properties because of the
location of the mirror. The reflection's state of focus is solely dependant on
a simple equation: the distance from the viewer to the mirror + the distance
from the mirror to the reflected item.>>
I think anyone who's looked through a telescope or a pair of
binoculars would argue the first point. And as for the second, you
are correctly stating the equation for the distance traveled by a ray
of light, but this has absolutely nothing to do with how a camera or
our eye perceives the focal qualities of a scene. For example,
A —————–C
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
\/
B
\
\
\
D
A is the viewer or camera, C is an object, B is a reflective object, and D is
an arbitrary point so that CB = BD. When viewing the scene from A, light
travels from C to A by AC and from C to A by CB, BA by reflection from B. Now
it is your contention that since focus is based on the additive property of the
entire length of the rays path, we should be able to bring the reflection of C
on object B into focus by placing the focal point at D. To back up a little
bit, lets assume that object B is not perfectly reflective. Meaning that
object B will add, say 50% of its light reactive qualities to the perceived
reflection, as is the case with a polished desk top. Given our focal point at
D, your theory of focal perception, and object B adding its qualities to the
reflection, what we'd have is a reflection that is in perfect focus (since AD
is our focal range) superimposed upon a surface which is out of focus (since AB
is not our focal range). I'm trying to imagine how this would look but I'm
absolutely certain that it's nothing I've EVER seen in real life.
It's obvious that you've investigated quite seriously into occular physics and
I think you'd find it interesting to read and learn how those theories that
have been around for hundreds of years are put into practical use through
ray-tracing and other fields of computer imaging.
Aaron