An optical instrument either processes light waves to enhance an image for viewing, or analyzes light waves to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.
Image enhancement[]
The first optical instruments were telescopes used for magnification of distant images, and microscopes used for magnifying very tiny images. These instruments have been greatly improved and extended into other portions.
The binocular device is a generally compact instrument for both eyes designed for mobile use.
A camera could be considered a type of optical instrument for storing an image. Now a days the old film camera has gone out of vogue and digital cameras have become very common which does not use films at all.
Other classes[]
Other classes of optical instruments used to analyze the properties of light are instruments like spectrometer, photometer etc.
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