Seeing lens imaging as a superposition of multiple views

Abstract: In the conventional approach to lens imaging, rays are used to map object points to image points. However, many students have a need to think of the image as a whole. To answer this need, lens imaging is reinterpreted as a superposition of sharp images from different viewpoints. These so-called elemental images are uncovered by covering the lens with a pinhole array. Rays are introduced to connect elemental images. Lens ray diagrams are constructed based on bundles of elemental images. The conventional construction method is included as a special case. The proposed approach proceeds from concrete images to abstract rays.