The invention comprises an iris imaging apparatus comprising an image sensor and an optical assembly. The optical assembly comprises an image-side surface and an object-side surface. The optical imaging lens assembly may be configured such that Dl < 6 mm, PX S� 10 pixels per mm, PX SIZE� 1.75 m and D2 < 500 mm. Dl is a distance between the object- side surface of the optical assembly and the imaging surface. D2 is a maximum distance between the object-side surface of the optical assembly and the object plane. PX S is pixel resolution in the object plane, achieved by the image sensor in imaging the object plane, when the distance between the object-side surface of the optical assembly and the object plane is less than or equal to D2. PXSIZE is pixel size of the image sensor. The invention additionally includes methods for configuring an imaging apparatus for iris imaging.
