Guide for Selecting AF or FF OAK-D-Lite
1. Are you planning on mounting your OAK-D-Lite to something that vibrates like crazy?
- If so, select Fixed Focus (FF) OAK-D-Lite.
2. Do you absolutely need things closer than let’s say ~50cm to be perfectly in focus?
- If so, select Auto Focus (AF) OAK-D-Lite.
3. Do neither of those apply to you?
- If so, select “Surprise Me”.
- This helps us balance supply and demand of OAK-D-Lite AF/FF production by you being flexible.

And that’s it; that simple. But if you’d like to learn more, read on:


The trade of Fixed Focus (FF) and Auto Focus (AF) is about 2 things:

1. Handling High Vibrations. Fixed-Focus (FF) is best here. Comparison video here.
- Fixed-Focus is best for handling high-vibration environments.
- Auto Focus uses an electromagnet to move a magnet that is mounted to a free-moving lens.
- So in high-vibrations, the vibrations are stronger than the electromagnetic force - and the lens vibrates all over the place - causing blurry/weird/”jello” images/video.
- Examples of high-vibration installations include mounted to a:
- Drone
- Lawn Mower
- Harley Davidson motorcycles (which are notorious for their vibrations), etc.
2. Seeing Close Objects Clearly. Auto-Focus (AF) is best here. Comparison video here (need video, discussing in slack; here).
- Fixed-Focus can see clearly from ~50cm (~20 inches) to infinity.
- Auto-Focus can see clearly from 10cm (~4 inches) to infinity.
- Auto-Focus accomplishes this wider range by actually moving the lens to a different position (~255 different steps) to focus at specific distances.
The Auto-Focus model can be manually controlled as well, in 1/255 steps.

And it’s worth noting that the 2x global shutter grayscale cameras on OAK-D-Lite are Fixed Focus on all OAK-D-Lite models and can see quite close (down to 10cm). The decision of Auto-Focus (AF) or Fixed-Focus (FF) is purely for the Color Camera on OAK-D-Lite, which needs to have bigger optics because color is less sensitive to light. These bigger optics are what result in the trade-offs below between vibration tolerance and close-in clarity.

Pros and Cons Summary:

Auto-Focus (AF) pros:
- Can focus on objects dynamically, which is mainly useful for objects within 50cm of OAK-D-Lite.
Auto-Focus (AF) cons:
- Does not work properly in Heavy-Vibration applications (e.g., drones, lawn mowers, bikes w/out suspension, etc.)

Fixed-Focus pros:
- Handles vibration better. The lens won't vibrate, so it's suitable for drones, robots, machines, etc.
- Better for RGB depth alignment (as the lens does not move)
Fixed-Focus cons:
- Objects have to be at least 30cm away to be in focus. (50cm is a good conservative estimate; why it is used above.)

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