Midwest Optical Systems
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1990
- HeadquartersPalatine, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Midwest Optical Systems does
Midwest Optical Systems (MidOpt) is a US-based, privately held manufacturer of optical filters designed specifically for industrial machine vision applications. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Palatine, Illinois, the company offers a catalog of more than 3,000 SKUs spanning bandpass, multi-bandpass, longpass, shortpass, neutral density, polarizing, protective, acrylic, light balancing, diffuser, SWIR, and LWIR filters, supported by a full range of mounting solutions (threaded M13.25 through M105, C-Mount, slip mount, and custom unmounted). Its proprietary StablEDGE® technology uses absorptive filter glass to minimize angular shifting with short focal length lenses, and its Gaussian-shaped passband designs are matched to LED spectral output curves to optimize contrast in machine vision systems. Manufacturing is performed in Palatine and a second Delavan, Wisconsin facility opened in October 2023, with proprietary robotic assembly and automated cosmetic inspection ensuring consistent quality and 40/20 scratch-dig surface standards.
Midwest Optical Systems firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Midwest Optical Systems
- Legal name
- Midwest Optical Systems, Inc.
- Website
- https://midopt.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1990
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Midwest Optical Systems industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Machine Vision Optical Filters
- SIC
- Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Lenses & Optical Accessories (Lenses, Filters, Adapters, Teleconverters) (CRACAPAF)
Keywords
Where Midwest Optical Systems is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Palatine
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Midwest Optical Systems business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Optical Filter Sales: Sale of machine vision optical filters including bandpass, multi-bandpass, longpass, shortpass, neutral density, polarizing, protective, acrylic, and specialty filters. Filters are sold in various mount sizes and configurations.
- Custom Optics & Fabrication: Custom filter sizing, precision dicing, beveling, and laser cutting services. Custom shapes and sizes up to 165mm square for most filters, acrylic filters up to 900mm square.
- Mounting Solutions: Sale of filter mounting solutions including threaded mounts, slip mounts, C-mount adapters, and custom mounting configurations.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Midwest Optical Systems product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Midwest Optical Systems designs, manufactures, and sells off-the-shelf and custom optical filters for machine vision and industrial imaging. Its catalog spans bandpass, multi-bandpass, longpass, shortpass, neutral density, polarizing, protective, acrylic, light balancing, diffuser, SWIR, and SiLWIR thermal filters, supported by threaded, C-Mount, slip, and custom mounting solutions. The company sells 3,000+ products across 30+ countries with same-day shipping on 2,000+ in-stock mounted filters and offers custom cutting, dicing, beveling, and laser fabrication services.
Product overview
Midwest Optical Systems (MidOpt) offers a comprehensive portfolio of machine vision optical filters and mounting solutions. The core product line includes Bandpass Filters (BP Series), Multi Bandpass Filters (DB/TB Series), Longpass Filters (LP Series), Shortpass/NIR Cut Filters (SP Series), Neutral Density Filters (ND/Ni Series), Polarizing Filters (PR/PS/PG Series), Protective Windows (LP Series), Acrylic Filters (AC Series), Light Balancing Filters (LA Series), SWIR Filters, and SiLWIR Protective Windows. These filters work across UV, VIS, NIR, SWIR, and LWIR spectral ranges. The portfolio is supported by a complete range of Mounting Solutions including 25.4 C-Mount, Threaded Mount (M13.25-M105), Slip Mount, and Custom Unmounted Filters. Key proprietary technologies include StablEDGE for angular shifting control and Gaussian passband design for optimal LED matching. The company offers Filter Kits for testing and application development. MidOpt provides over 3,000 products with same-day shipping from stock.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Bandpass Filters (BP Series) Optical filters that transmit specific wavelengths while blocking unwanted ambient light for machine vision systems; designed for industrial imaging, scientific cameras, and inspection equipment.
- Multi Bandpass Filters (DB/TB Series) Dual and triple bandpass filters that allow a single camera to capture multiple wavelengths simultaneously, including NDVI-optimized options for agricultural and aerial surveying applications.
- Longpass Filters (LP Series) Filters that transmit wavelengths longer than a specified cutoff while blocking shorter wavelengths, with options across VIS, NIR, SWIR, and LWIR ranges for industrial and scientific imaging.
- Shortpass / NIR Cut Filters (SP Series) Filters that block near-infrared wavelengths while passing visible light, useful for natural color rendition and blocking IR interference in machine vision and color imaging.
- Neutral Density Filters (ND/Ni Series, including NX Series) Gray filters that reduce light intensity equally across wavelengths without affecting color rendition, available in absorptive ND and reflective Ni versions, with the NX Series covering broadband VIS-NIR-SWIR for CMOS, InGaAs, and CQD sensors.
- Polarizing Filters (PR/PS/PG Series) Linear polarizers and polarizer films that reduce specular glare and reflections in machine vision imaging, including wire-grid polarizers covering VIS and SWIR with high contrast ratios.
- Protective Windows Optical windows that protect lenses and cameras from dust, debris, harsh environments, and mechanical damage, available in sapphire, Borofloat, fused silica, germanium, and optical crown glass substrates with chemical strengthening and oleophobic coating options.
- Acrylic Filters (AC Series) Lightweight acrylic protective windows and longpass filters with anti-abrasion and anti-reflection coatings, half the weight of glass and FDA/EFSA compliant for food inspection applications.
- Light Balancing Filters (LA Series) Filters that adjust color temperature to compensate for different light source characteristics, improving color accuracy in imaging applications.
- SWIR Filters Short-wave infrared bandpass and longpass filters designed for InGaAs cameras, covering the 900-2300nm range for imaging through fog, condensation, and various industrial inspection applications.
- SiLWIR Protective Windows Silicon LWIR protective windows with DLC and AR coatings serving as a cost-effective alternative to germanium for long-wave infrared thermal imaging in the 7.5-12 micron range, offering high mechanical strength, impact resistance, and efficient thermal management.
- BP610 Green-Red Bandpass Filter Bandpass filter that blocks blue light while transmitting green and red wavelengths, optimized for aquatic, oil spill, underwater, and vegetation health / NDVI imaging applications.
- Filter Kits (FK200, FK201, FS100) Pre-configured filter test kits, including the FK200 and FK201 machine vision filter kits and FS100 swatch filter kit, used by engineers to select and test filters for machine vision applications.
- 25.4 C-Mount Filters Exclusive C-Mount adapter that threads directly between the lens and the camera sensor for C and CS mount cameras, preventing vignetting and angle shift with wide-angle lenses in space-constrained machine vision setups.
- Threaded Mount Filters Standard filter mounts ranging from M13.25 to M105 for lenses with filter threads, in black anodized aluminum construction, representing the largest variety of threaded filter sizes in stock in the industry.
- Slip Mount Filters Adapter mounts for lenses without filter threads, including varifocal and wide-angle lenses, featuring a low-profile design and locking set screws.
- Custom Unmounted Filters Precision-cut optical filters fabricated to custom specifications in various shapes and sizes using laser cutting, dicing, and beveling services, up to 165mm square for most filters and 900mm square for acrylic.
- Backlight fluoreSHEET 0.2mm thin flexible, durable, water-resistant backlight sheet available in three sizes (216x280mm to 280x432mm), used with blue LED light and a MidOpt Orange Bandpass Filter for indirect illumination in machine vision applications.
Quantifiable outcome
- Surface quality exceeds industry standard with 40/20 scratch-dig ratio (10/5 available for sensor placement applications)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Midwest Optical Systems
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Midwest Optical Systems technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Midwest Optical Systems partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Midwest Optical Systems competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Edmund Optics: Edmund Optics is the largest direct competitor in industrial optical filters and machine vision components, offering a deeply overlapping portfolio of bandpass, longpass, neutral density, and polarizing filters into the same factory automation, life sciences, and research OEM customers MidOpt serves.
- Knight Optical: Knight Optical supplies custom and stock optical components including filters, lenses, and windows to industrial imaging and machine vision customers in Europe and globally, competing directly with MidOpt on custom optical filter fabrication.
- Omega Optical: Omega Optical manufactures custom and stock optical interference filters used in imaging, machine vision, and instrumentation applications, making it a direct peer to MidOpt in optical filter design and fabrication for industrial and scientific OEM customers.
- Asahi Spectra: Asahi Spectra manufactures bandpass, longpass, and other optical filters, including for machine vision and industrial imaging OEMs, with similar custom fabrication capabilities and comparable OEM customer profile.
- Schneider-Kreuznach (Schneider Optics): Schneider-Kreuznach's Industrial Optics division manufactures machine vision filters (including industrial bandpass and polarizing filters) used in factory automation and imaging, making it a head-to-head competitor to MidOpt in machine vision filter selection.
- Chroma Technology: Chroma Technology designs and manufactures high-performance optical filters (bandpass, dichroic, longpass) for imaging, life sciences, and machine vision applications - a direct competitor in custom optical filter manufacturing.
Broad incumbents
- Hoya Corporation (Optical Division): Hoya's optical division produces optical glass, filters, and coatings used in industrial imaging and machine vision systems, operating as a much larger, diversified supplier overlapping MidOpt's filter technology and OEM relationships.
- Newport / MKS Instruments: Newport (MKS Instruments) is a broad optics and photonics platform serving industrial, scientific, and semiconductor customers - their optical filters, mounts, and assemblies overlap MidOpt's machine vision offering as part of a much wider portfolio.
- Thorlabs: Thorlabs is a large, broad-line photonics and optical components supplier offering optical filters, mounts, and assemblies across research, life sciences, and industrial imaging - overlapping significantly with MidOpt's portfolio but with a much wider catalog and stronger direct-research channel.
- Jenoptik: Jenoptik's Light & Optics division supplies optical components and filter assemblies for industrial metrology, semiconductor, and machine vision applications - broader than MidOpt but competes for similar industrial OEM filter spend.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Midwest Optical Systems social profiles
Digital presenceMidwest Optical Systems compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Midwest Optical Systems financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Midwest Optical Systems leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Midwest Optical Systems funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Midwest Optical Systems M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Midwest Optical Systems
What does Midwest Optical Systems do?
Midwest Optical Systems designs, manufactures, and sells off-the-shelf and custom optical filters for machine vision and industrial imaging. Its catalog spans bandpass, multi-bandpass, longpass, shortpass, neutral density, polarizing, protective, acrylic, light balancing, diffuser, SWIR, and SiLWIR thermal filters, supported by threaded, C-Mount, slip, and custom mounting solutions. The company sells 3,000+ products across 30+ countries with same-day shipping on 2,000+ in-stock mounted filters and offers custom cutting, dicing, beveling, and laser fabrication services.
Is Midwest Optical Systems a public or private company?
Midwest Optical Systems is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Midwest Optical Systems founded?
Midwest Optical Systems was founded in 1990. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Midwest Optical Systems based?
Midwest Optical Systems is headquartered in Palatine, United States, in the North America region.
How does Midwest Optical Systems make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Optical Filter Sales are the primary driver. The others are custom Optics & Fabrication and mounting Solutions.
Who are Midwest Optical Systems's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Edmund Optics, Knight Optical, Omega Optical, Asahi Spectra, Schneider-Kreuznach (Schneider Optics) and Chroma Technology. Broad incumbents are Hoya Corporation (Optical Division), Newport / MKS Instruments, Thorlabs and Jenoptik.
Does Midwest Optical Systems have an API?
No public API is recorded for Midwest Optical Systems.
What industry is Midwest Optical Systems in?
Midwest Optical Systems's product category is Machine Vision Optical Filters. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRACAPAF, Lenses & Optical Accessories (Lenses, Filters, Adapters, Teleconverters). Its SIC code is 3827.