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01-13-2017, 08:48 AM   #46
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QuoteOriginally posted by Reed Quote
Ricoh should get their "money maker" lenses updated as soon as possible to PLM/DC,electronic apreture and HD coatings- DA50/DA35, those two along with 55-300 are probably best selling products they have in dslr line. With all current models supporting plm drive and electronic apreture, it is time to do that move.
It is a good idea and they need to have that for their top line series lenses as it would bump up the prices.
I very much like the DA 50 and 35..and would like to see similar ones in other focal lengths too.

01-14-2017, 06:14 AM   #47
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Id like a 100mm prime to 125mm.
Something btween the 77mm and 200mm.
01-14-2017, 08:27 AM - 1 Like   #48
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QuoteOriginally posted by abhaskare Quote
Yes, it is quite surprisinhg how they manage f1.8 in such a small size.
Pentax K-5 II vs Nikon D3400

One reference says focal length is actually 3.8 mm!
What Kunzite is trying to say is that it's actually extremely easy and cheap to make tiny bright aperture lenses and extremely hard and expensive to make big bright lenses.

If you take that iPhone lens design and scale it to full frame size, every dimension must scale up by about a factor of 7. But that means the surface area grows by a factor of 49 (7 squared) and then volume increase by a factor of 343 (7 cubed). That scaling creates huge costs. And the elements of the full frame lens would have 49 times more the surface area that must be perfectly dimensionally controlled. And the bigger lens would require over 343 times as much ultrahigh-quality optical plastic as the iPhone lens. Not only does the bigger lens require a lot more high-cost material but also it's much harder to maintain optical uniformity in a bigger volume -- if there's one tiny swirl of less dense material because of the way the element polymerized or solidified, the lens is ruined.

Moreover, the six element design of the iphone which works so well at that tiny scale would suck on full frame. All the high-quality, bright-aperture lenses for full frame cameras tend to have twice as many elements as that iPhone design.

Finally, those iphone lenses are manufactured in volumes of tens of millions of units. Apple's suppliers can afford to spend tens of millions of dollars on very specialized manufacturing equipment and automation that makes the unit prices cheap.

Similar scaling issue affect increasing the aperture of a lens design from f/2.8 to f/1.4 -- it forces the designer to create more lens elements that are larger in every way and hence much more expensive.

Everything about large-format, large-aperture camera lenses makes them much harder to make and much more expensive.
01-27-2017, 06:57 AM   #49
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QuoteOriginally posted by photoptimist Quote
What Kunzite is trying to say is that it's actually extremely easy and cheap to make tiny bright aperture lenses and extremely hard and expensive to make big bright lenses.

If you take that iPhone lens design and scale it to full frame size, every dimension must scale up by about a factor of 7. But that means the surface area grows by a factor of 49 (7 squared) and then volume increase by a factor of 343 (7 cubed). That scaling creates huge costs. And the elements of the full frame lens would have 49 times more the surface area that must be perfectly dimensionally controlled. And the bigger lens would require over 343 times as much ultrahigh-quality optical plastic as the iPhone lens. Not only does the bigger lens require a lot more high-cost material but also it's much harder to maintain optical uniformity in a bigger volume -- if there's one tiny swirl of less dense material because of the way the element polymerized or solidified, the lens is ruined.

Moreover, the six element design of the iphone which works so well at that tiny scale would suck on full frame. All the high-quality, bright-aperture lenses for full frame cameras tend to have twice as many elements as that iPhone design.

Finally, those iphone lenses are manufactured in volumes of tens of millions of units. Apple's suppliers can afford to spend tens of millions of dollars on very specialized manufacturing equipment and automation that makes the unit prices cheap.

Similar scaling issue affect increasing the aperture of a lens design from f/2.8 to f/1.4 -- it forces the designer to create more lens elements that are larger in every way and hence much more expensive.

Everything about large-format, large-aperture camera lenses makes them much harder to make and much more expensive.
I fully agree that a DSLR lens is much bigger. My point is if we can have 35/2.4 and 50/1.8 priced at around $100 on average, we also need to see some other primes like DA 10, DA 14, DA18, DA 24 etc .. however if you look at current DA 14 it is close to $600! Now how can that be explained? And of course I am referring to plastic cheap series for the enthusiasts. DA* can still be available in parallel for pros.

01-27-2017, 07:41 AM - 1 Like   #50
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QuoteOriginally posted by abhaskare Quote
I fully agree that a DSLR lens is much bigger. My point is if we can have 35/2.4 and 50/1.8 priced at around $100 on average, we also need to see some other primes like DA 10, DA 14, DA18, DA 24 etc .. however if you look at current DA 14 it is close to $600! Now how can that be explained? And of course I am referring to plastic cheap series for the enthusiasts. DA* can still be available in parallel for pros.
Here's the design of the 35/2.4


It's got a total of 6 elements with the largest element being only about 33 mm in diameter.

Here's the design of the DA 14/2.8 (at a smaller scale):



It's got 12 elements, 2 with special glass, several with extremely high curvature and several large elements (the largest element being about 58 mm in diameter).

So the DA 14 has twice as many elements, and those large, high-curvature elements are much more expensive than the small elements in the DA 35.

And because few people buy the DA 14, Pentax has to up it's price even further to cover all the fixed costs of designing, prototyping, and testing the lens and setting up the factory systems (jigs, holders, CNC machine programs, etc.) required to make the lens.
01-29-2017, 07:44 AM   #51
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QuoteOriginally posted by photoptimist Quote
Here's the design of the 35/2.4

So the DA 14 has twice as many elements, and those large, high-curvature elements are much more expensive than the small elements in the DA 35.

And because few people buy the DA 14, Pentax has to up it's price even further to cover all the fixed costs of designing, prototyping, and testing the lens and setting up the factory systems (jigs, holders, CNC machine programs, etc.) required to make the lens.
Thank you for such nice details pointing the differences, appreciate it.
However I feel that it can be 25-50% more cost. If prices are lowered, more people will buy and net net there is some profit!
At the current prices, effectively handful of people pay premium prices.
01-29-2017, 08:08 AM - 1 Like   #52
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Sure, we all want to see more stuff from Pentax. I'm really happy with the brand for the most part. But the (and I am yelling here) HAVE TO IMPROVE THE AUTOFOCUS SPEED. Thank you :-)
I'm hoping for something here: The Pentax KP is not the replacement of the K-3 II, new high-end Pentax DSLR coming in 6 months | Pentax Rumors ...maybe better autofocus?? I can hope Santa Claus will come in July ;-)

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