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Excellent Optical Engineering

Eckhardt Optics is your number one optical design and manufacturing partner. Our passion for optics has led us to provide custom lenses for uses as varied as industrial inspection, UV curing, 3D printing, and photography.

What we do

We design, test, and assemble custom, high quality optics.

Who we are

We're a group of passionate professionals dedicated to providing quality optics.

What we offer

We offer the full extent of our experience, versatile design abilities, and individualized support.

Products/Services

Conoscopes
Custom optics
Optical design
Manufacturing & assembly
Optical property testing

Industries Served

Test & measurement
Computer vision
Medical technology
Vehicle safety

FAQ

How do you design a lens?
How much does a custom lens cost?
How long does it take to design a lens?
How do I specify a custom lens?

We Offer

  • Custom optical design and manufacturing
  • Support from optics professionals with thirty years of experience
  • One on one collaboration
  • Prototypes in as little as four weeks, production in twelve
  • Versatile design abilities 
Optical Instruments

Test and Measurement Optics

We create optical instruments for optical property testing, such as scattering, retroreflectence, and polarization. Due to this, we have a stock of conoscopic lenses and scatterometers that are available for purchase. See our Completed Projects page for some examples. If you need an instrument to measure optical properties, we’d love to hear from you. Call us at 651-315-8249 or use our contact us form to get started.

lens design

Lens Design

We use Synopsis and Zemax for lens design. The fact that our CEO, Steve, has over twenty years of experience with lens design software as well as thirty years of optical design and manufacturing experience means that we’re ready for even the most complicated optical design problems. To top that, Steve has collaborated with some of the best minds behind these technologies. If a design is physically possible, we have the tools to do it. Because of this, we’re able to promise you the best support from an established industry professional. Call us at 651-315-8249 or use our contact us form to get started.

Custom Lens Manufacturing

Optimization

We optimize the manufacturing and design process through global sourcing, striving to solve your optical design problems at high speeds and low costs. In addition to this, we will provide you with designs, prototypes, and volume production, unifying the process. Call us at 651-315-8249 or visit our contact us form when you’re ready for action.

Books!

Education

As a company, we value education. For this reason, we’re always seeking to provide learning opportunities for employees and customers. We’re happy to help you learn more about optical design and manufacturing! You can learn more about lens types here or read about how we design lenses. Click here to go to our FAQ list or check out our other advanced topics here. Our resources page is another great place to start. If you’d like to learn more about our company, visit our about page to meet our staff.

This is just a taste of our staff's extensive experience -
click on any of the bios below to read more.

Steve Eckhardt

CEO

30 years of experience in optical engineering, Ph.D. in optics from the University of Arizona, experience designing single element lenses to multi-element zoom lenses...

Matt Johantgen

Optical Engineer

Eight years experience in optical design and manufacturing, B.S. in physics from University of Minnesota – Morris, experience designing high-end custom microscopes...

Andrew Eckhardt

Operations Manager

Three years experience in marketing, five years experience with optomechanical design, lens assembly, and troubleshooting...


Lincoln Talbott

Mechanical Engineer

Lincoln’s passion for designing and building mechanical systems that work for both the manufacturing team and the end user led him...

Ka Thao

Engineering Technician
Pete Nelson

Pete Nelson

Engineering Technician

Pete is a creative and philosophical type with an educational background in music, Christian theology, and interior design. After three years...

Kevin Boulay

Vice President, Leeds Forensic Systems

Working with Eckhardt Optics, we were able to design a unique low power objective for the firearms comparison microscopes we manufacture here at Leeds. This lens allows us to provide the widest observed field of view image in comparison to any of our competition. The final product from Eckhardt Optics, is a high-quality lens including identifying graphics and technical information. It resembles and integrates well with lenses offered from large microscope manufacturers.​

R. Edward English, Jr.

Senior Laboratory Manager, 3M Precision Optics

"I first met Steve in early 2003. I was impressed by his optical system design knowledge and ability. His design approach is elegant and innovative in its simplicity and effectiveness. The designs are robust, buildable, and successfully balance the often conflicting requirements of a state-of-the-art system. Over time, I got to learn more about Steve’s experiences and abilities… they are extensive. He can be understated in conveying them to you personally, but the quality of his designs speaks loudly of the strength and diversity of those experiences and skills. He always delivers a practical solution. He always delivers value. He supports his designs with solid analysis. And he showed an uncanny ability to work smoothly with many different types of teams, whether co-located with them or not."

Chuck Bruzzone

Chief Specialist, 3M

"Over the last ten years Steve has either worked with me as a colleague or reported to me. In both situations I have found him to be insightful and productive. He has the valuable ability to perceive challenges and opportunities that others may not have recognized, and to take action to address them. An example of this is the situation we found in 2004. We had developed a projection component that could significantly improve performance of LCOS projection systems, but the system needed to be designed appropriately. Steve proposed preparation of a reference design, but management felt this was out of scope for our team. He convinced me of the value of the effort, completed the design in addition to his other assignments, built prototypes, and showed them at SID. This led directly to volume sales of the component in an award winning projector built on a refinement of Steve’s initial design. To avoid misimpressions I should stress that Steve is persistent but neither confrontational nor belligerent. He is a great team member, open to constructive criticism, and more interested in the success of his team than as being seen as the hero. I have greatly enjoyed working with Steve, and would do so again without hesitation.

Location

13025 Fenway Blvd N, #B330, Hugo, MN 55038

651-315-8249

Contact Us