An ophthalmic imaging system includes a light source (12), focusing optics (22), compensating optics (16,20), and a computer (42) that coordinates both of the optics to optimize the Diffraction Limited Point Spread Function (DL-PSF) of the imaging light beam (14). In detail, the compensating optics includes a customized phase plate (20) that provides substantially complete compensation for static aberrations introduced by an eye into the imaging light beam. Further, the computer measures an operational error signal that results from dynamic aberrations. The computer then uses the error signal to control the compensating optics and thereby optimize the DL-PSF by compensating for both static and dynamic aberrations. For an alternate embodiment, an active mirror (16) can be included in the compensating optics to provide additional compensation for the dynamic aberrations. Wavefront analysis is performed to determine aberrations.
