The Technical Support team at ZEMAX Development Corporation is here to help you use your license of ZEMAX. We don't use answering machines or make you press buttons on your phone to navigate to get through to us. ZEMAX Technical Support is staffed by 100% organic human beings!

Technical support is available 8 AM - 5 PM Pacific Time, Monday-Friday except US public holidays.

Typically we answer questions about installation, using program features, data entry, reporting suspected bugs, etc. Also, if you want a feature added to ZEMAX, contacting technical support is the best way to start your idea off.

To receive technical support, you must have current ZEMAX support.  We sell support by the year and the first year is included free with the purchase of your ZEMAX program.

If you need to purchase support, you can do so here. It doesn't matter how long ago your support contract expired: we don't make you pay for the "missing years" in any way. Considering that the support contract includes an immediate upgrade to the current version, continuous upgrades during the support period (with many new features), and access to our Engineering staff, it is really an exceptional bargain!

If you need to contact us, please email support@zemax.com. Include your ZEMAX key number (press F10 when running ZEMAX to get this) in the subject line of your email: it will get through our spam filter more easily. We also use this number to check your eligibility for support. Please also send your lens file along with your questions: its much easier to see the problem with the lens file in front of us. We aim to respond to your questions within one business day.

We understand that many designs are commercially or otherwise confidential. Remember that we do not offer any form of consulting or design service, so you do not risk giving your secrets to a competitor! Our focus is only on helping you use ZEMAX as effectively as possible. If you really cannot send your full lens file to us, try to reproduce your problem either with one of the over-100 sample files supplied with ZEMAX, or produce a simplified file that demonstrates the problem without revealing your proprietary information. We cannot sign any non-disclosure agreements.

Please note that technical support does not include:

• Questions about design decisions. We sometimes get asked questions like "should I use an aspheric surface or add an extra lens?" We can tell you how to do either, but the decision on which choice is best for your application is something you have to decide.
• Questions about basic optics theory. There are many resources for you to use, like the books referenced in the first chapter of the ZEMAX User's Guide, or our series of training courses. We can't teach optics as part of technical support. 
• Questions about fabrication or tradeoff decisions. Again, your choice of vendor or manufacturing method is something you have to decide for yourself.

For these kinds of questions, the services of a qualified optics consultant who is a specialist in your area of work should be used. We can help to put you in contact with suitable consultants, if you wish.