Optical subsystem with descriptors of its image quality

An electro-optic imaging system comprising:

• an electrical back-end subsystem comprising:
• a detector subsystem coupled to a digital image processing subsystem, the detector subsystem capturing an optical image in electrical form, and the digital image processing subsystem applying image processing to the captured image;
• and
• a first interface module coupled to the digital image processing subsystem;
• and
• an optical subsystem for use with the electrical back-end subsystem but separable from the electrical back-end subsystem, the optical subsystem comprising:
• one or more optical elements that form a blurred optical image of an object, the optical image blurred by third order and higher optical aberrations in the optical elements;
• a housing for the optical elements, the housing attachable to the electrical back-end subsystem;
• and
• a second interface module and a descriptor module attached to the housing, wherein the descriptor module contains one or more optical image quality descriptors that describe an image quality of the blurred optical image formed by the optical elements and the second interface module communicates the optical image quality descriptors to the electrical back-end subsystem via the first interface module;
• the digital image processing subsystem adjusting said image processing to compensate for the blurring caused by the third order and higher optical aberrations, said adjustment based on the received optical image quality descriptors.