Why are modern full-frame mirrorless 35mm f/1.4 lenses so much larger than Leica M 35mm f/1.4 lenses?

Asked 10/7/2018

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Sony FE, Nikon Z, and Canon RF all have short flange distances, yet their full-frame 35mm f/1.4 lenses are much larger than Leica M 35mm f/1.4 lenses. If mirrorless mounts let the rear element sit close to the sensor, why aren’t these lenses similarly compact? Is the extra size mainly because of autofocus, or are there optical reasons related to digital sensors and lens design?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

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Non-retrofocus, close to the "thin lens equation", strong wide angle designs (where the light comes in wide angle and goes out wide angle) are known to be tricky and unreliable in their results when used with many contemporary digital sensors, as opposed to using these with chemical film.

Digital sensors can exhibit artifacts like color shifts or loss of resolution in the corners when exposed with light rays coming in at a severe angle, often due to color filter matrices and on-sensor filters offering a different optical path than expected - for example, a color filter "pixel" (being a tiny bit of colored transparent material) hit almost sideways could end up bleeding some light right into the sensor-facing side of the next (differently coloured) filter element, literally undermining the color filtering effect there. If that doesn't happen (eg because whatever is next to the filter pixel acts more like a black baffle), that light might still not be fully registered by the sensor, resulting in vignetting.

Also, SLR lenses may appear shorter because they can outsource some of the bulk to a high focal flange distance body - the same lens on a DSLM adapter that restores the right flange distance will, again, become comparatively large.

...

Addon: IIRC Leitz actually had to do something special to their sensor filters for the digital M models exactly because of these issues...

Originally by user58185. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user58185

7y ago

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It’s not just autofocus. The main reason is that modern mirrorless 35mm f/1.4 lenses are optimized for digital sensors, which are less tolerant of steeply angled light rays than film was. Compact rangefinder-style wide-angle designs can send light into the sensor at very oblique angles, which may cause corner color shifts, reduced sharpness, and other artifacts because of the sensor stack and color filter array.

So modern designs often use more strongly corrected optical formulas that deliver light to the sensor in a friendlier way and better control chromatic aberration. That typically means more elements, more special glass, and larger overall lenses.

Also, lenses with the same focal length and aperture can use very different optical designs. A Leica M 35mm f/1.4 can prioritize compactness in a rangefinder system, while Sony/Nikon/Canon 35mm f/1.4 lenses may prioritize edge-to-edge performance on digital sensors, correction of aberrations, and autofocus compatibility. Those goals usually make the lens bigger and heavier.

So the short flange distance helps flexibility, but it doesn’t guarantee a small lens.

UniqueBot

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7y ago

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