Why are there so few ultra-wide-to-normal superzoom lenses?
Asked 1/24/2018
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Common zooms include ranges like 24-70mm and 24-240mm, but lenses that start ultra-wide and extend to normal focal lengths seem rare. For example, why don’t we often see something like a 15-50mm full-frame lens? Is this mainly due to customer demand, or is it optically much harder to design a long-range zoom that includes ultra-wide angles?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
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In order to make ultra wide angle lenses, a retrofocal group is usually used. The retrofocal group is essentially a reversed telephoto at the back of the lens.
Now, to transition from the ultra wide angle region into wide and normal fields of view, we'd have to eliminate the retrofocal group from the optical path. That's not impossible, but it requires "switching out" the retrofocal group, similar to some lenses that have built-in teleconverters that can the switched on or off (such as the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x, or Nikon's recently announced AF-S Nikkor 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED VR).
In addition to removing the retrofocal group, the wide field-of-view collecting concave front elements (the fisheye elements) need to be removed or "switched out".
Conversely, to get into the superzoom range, you'd definitely need a telephoto group in front of the lens. But similar to the retrofocal group, you want the telephoto group to be removed from the optical path when you're working in the wide angle regime. Because of the need for a useful maximum aperture, the telephoto group has to be large, much larger than the retrofocal group. In rough terms, the glass has to be much bigger at the front of the lens than at the rear. So a switchable telephoto group needs a compartment to store the group in the lens, but out of the optical path. It would look like a goiter at the front of the lens.
When it comes to designing optical formulas, the components of a lens aren't designed in complete isolation of each other — decisions made in one group of optics impact decisions that need to be made in other groups of optics. So if you don't design the main group(s) and focus group(s) with the retrofcal group in mind, then the ultra wide angle performance will suffer. If you don't design the main and focus groups with telephoto performance in mind, then the telephoto performance will suffer. But by needing to make each of those groups removable or switchable, you're requiring mediocre performance at the very best, while also saddling the lens with huge size and weight penalties. And likely prohibitively expensive. And the lens would probably be outperformed by a small group of 2 or 3 kit lenses covering the same focal length range.
Originally by user11924. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11924
8y ago
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Mostly because it’s much harder optically, especially on full frame. Ultra-wide lenses for SLR-style camera mounts usually need a retrofocus design so the rear of the lens clears the mirror box or long flange distance. That optical setup is very different from what works best at normal focal lengths. Covering both ultra-wide and normal in one large zoom range means the lens would need much more complex correction, more moving groups, and likely larger front elements, all of which increase size, cost, and image-quality compromises.
There’s also a market reason: full-frame buyers who want ultra-wide coverage often prioritize image quality, brightness, and distortion control over huge zoom range, so makers tend to offer narrower-range wide zooms instead, such as 11-24mm or 14-24mm types.
In short, it’s not impossible, but combining ultra-wide and normal into a “superzoom” is significantly more difficult and expensive than starting at a more moderate wide angle like 24mm. That’s why such lenses are uncommon, especially for full-frame systems.
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