Depending on the type of light transmission, endoscopes are categorized as lens telescopes, glass fiber telescopes and video endoscopes (CCD endoscopes – EYEMAX). Furthermore, a distinction is made between flexible and rigid endoscopes.

Their essential components are:

The objective lens

turns the incident light into an image, projecting it onto the following component. It comprises 2 to max. 9 lenses as well as a prism if different viewing directions are required.

Rod lenses (rigid) or glass fibers/image guides (flexible)

They serve to transmit the image from the endoscope tip to the eyepiece (from distal to proximal).

The eyepiece lens

The eyepiece lens magnifies the image transmitted by the rod lenses or image guides virtually, giving the viewer the impression of a large image circle.

In a video endoscope there also is an objective lens arranged in front of the video chip. This lens generates the image and images it on the sensor. The video chip picks up the image and – via electrical cables - transmits it to the controller. The controller processes the image and transmits it to the monitor.