The camera and lens market is quite competitive. Brands square up to produce top-notch products that do not compromise on quality. Their goal is to produce equipment that appeals to professional photographers and amateurs willing to pay a pretty buck to get their hands on the best photography equipment. And quality doesn’t come cheap.
For the most part, photographers shopping for high-end camera lenses do so because they make a living through their passion for taking pictures. Therefore, they invest knowing that their return on investment will yield sooner or later. They go to great lengths to find the best equipment possible, even if it means paying through the nose.
Here, we’ll take a look at the variables that drive up the price of camera lenses in today’s market.
But first…
How do lenses work?
Lenses more or less work like the eye pupil. It regulates the quantity of light that enters the camera and focuses it on the image sensor. Using light bending and filtering, it creates visuals based on the shape of what is being photographed.
The lens can be focussed by moving it closer or further away from the film or focal plane. Twisting the lens causes the lens elements to move along a spiral screw thread machined into the lens case. Turning the lens also adjusts a scale on the case that indicates the ideal focus distance. Here are some other aspects that influence how a camera lens works.
- Focal length – it’s the distance (measured in millimeters) between the lens’s point of convergence and the sensor recording the picture. Smaller focal length numbers have a broader field of view and reveal more of the scene, whereas larger numbers indicate less.
- Aperture – refers to the opening in the diaphragm of a lens that allows light to flow through, expressed in f-stops. Contrary to popular belief, the narrower the opening, the higher the F-stop number.
- Depth of Field – The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the closest and farthest objects that are in sharp focus in an image captured with a camera.
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Why Are Camera Lenses So Expensive?
1. The Lens Construction
Like any other piece of equipment, camera lenses go through a series of design stages before they are ready for use. However, unlike most manufactured types of equipment, camera lenses have a highly sophisticated design. The design process begins by identifying the target market or niche of photographers.
Next is the selection of autofocus (AF), mechanical and optical materials, optical design, and the type of interface between the camera and lens. Manufacturers evaluate the varieties of glasses and plastics for the lenses, as well as a variety of metals for the components to be used while selecting materials.
Each lens category has its own set of patterns and conventions that give them distinct features and capabilities. Here are some of the lenses:
- Macro Lenses – They have a unique design that allows them to capture sharp images with a lot of detail at a close range. Perfect for taking snapshots of nature.
- Telephoto Lenses – These types of lenses are designed for focusing on distant objects. They are ideal for sporting events.
- Wide Angle Lenses – These lenses elongate subjects and make close objects larger while further objects become smaller in the frame. They are ideal for city or landscape photography.
- Standard Lenses – Standard lenses are considered general-purpose lenses. They have a focal length that is roughly equivalent to the diagonal size of the sensor.
- Specialty Lenses – These lenses have their own uniquely designed features that impart a unique look and feel to photographs. Some of them include infrared lenses, fisheye lenses, and tilt-shift lenses.
After the design is finalized, the lenses are tested using computer simulations. The computer simulation then outlays the type of image the lenses are expected to produce at the center of the image along with their expected ranges of operation. If the lenses pass the simulation, a review is carried out to ensure they meet the specifications.
A prototype is then developed to test the lens’s actual performance under varied situations and at every focal length and aperture position. Evidently, the sophistication in constructing camera lenses requires a tad of skilled labor and expensive automation equipment, making lenses very expensive.
2. Research & Development
Since the invention of the camera, lens technology has advanced tremendously, and this trend does not appear to be slowing down any time soon. To keep up with the competition, well-known manufacturers devote a significant amount of time, effort, and money to research and development to produce high-quality camera lenses.
The cost of research and development, not to mention the potential for financial loss, rises with each succeeding generation of lens technology. Market research is carried out and studies are performed on what lenses should be manufactured, photography trends, and the best materials for lens production.
Manufacturers hire expensive scientists and/or researchers (who are in high demand since they are hard to come by) and also pay exorbitant amounts for the facilities in which these workers can conduct their studies. Failure rates are extremely high and only a few ideas make it to the commercialization stage. This increases the price of any final product that is released to the public.
3. Raw Materials
To ensure that camera lenses perform well and last long, brands use high-quality materials to manufacture the lenses. They use highly refined glass components that are subjected to numerous tests in order to ensure that only those with the highest optical quality are used in the final stage.
For instance, they have to ensure that the optical glass is of the required softness, frailty, and possesses the proper oxidation properties during the grinding and polishing process. Due to the high level of refinement that is necessary, the cost of the glass that is required can be rather high. This contributes to the overall cost of production.
Additionally, manufacturers utilize coatings to protect the lens material from oxidation, avoid reflections, and meet the criteria for color balance and rendition. They may add several layers of coating for the best color and light transmission which is extremely complex and costly.
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4. Manufacturing
Lens manufacturing approaches can range greatly among different companies. Some create camera lenses with vast assembly lines, while others produce camera lenses utilizing fully automated processes, such as industrial robots. Regardless of the manufacturing method used, quality and precision are critical in lens production.
The primary priority of highly skilled professionals is great dimensional accuracy and precise calibrations. This has a huge impact on the bottom line of businesses that rely heavily on on-site labor. In addition, the lenses have to be constructed in a very clean environment so that they do not pick up any dirt, dust, or moisture throughout the process. These kinds of settings call for a significant number of additional processes and procedures, all of which serve to both raise production costs and slow down production speeds.
5. Quality Control
After lens production, quality control begins. Photographers want nothing less than absolute excellence from the lenses they use, both in terms of quality and performance. They check every detail of the lens, which increases the production cost for manufacturers checking lens performance during assembly.
The lens is typically measured and tested by hand using special measuring and testing equipment. Each lens has to go through the inspection process of quality control departments, after which it can be certified as fit for use. This is done to ensure that the lenses are flawless.
Conclusion
Camera lenses contain a multitude of small parts that must be manufactured and assembled with extreme precision. When you examine all of the phases involved in researching, designing, and manufacturing a new lens, it’s easy to see why they’re so expensive. Just one tiny error can render the lens completely unusable. To avoid that, manufacturers use rigorous production processes, employ highly skilled employees, specialized equipment, and stringent quality standards, all of which contribute to the high cost of camera lenses.