The japanese blog Egami (Click here) found a new Sony patent disclosing a collapsible lens technology. The image on top shows the lens in full retracted position. The single lenses are in contact with the other lenses to minimize the length. Actually only Olympus is offering such a lens (The [shoplink 9584 ebay]14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink]). Collapsible lenses and in future also the liquid lens technology should allow Sony to create very small lenses. Can’t wait to see one of these lenses for real!
15 Responses
Liquid, electrostatic lens tech is still quite far from actual utilization. A decade at least.
Liquid lens are highly successful in my iphone 4, and other smart phones
what makes you so sure?
What are you smoking? Your iphone doesn’t have a liquid lens.
Liquid lens technology is only suitable for very small elements and not for SLR-sized coverage.
what am i smoking? apperantly something good 🙂
you are right, iphone does not have liquid lens, and according to the following article we wont see such lens in a phone till 2013,
but it also states that liquid lens are used for industrial use for years now
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/cameraphones-can-expect-liquid-lenses-soon-62209175.htm
As long as the collapsible nature of the lens does not affect its rigidity and auto focus accuracy.
BTW, in this design, which is the optical stabilization element?
Its impossible to produce inaccurate focus lens with any mirrorless camera -as those use CDAF
It is possible to suffer from inadequate focus and/or sharpness if any single lenses are slightly tilted or decentered.
Sony actually listened to us? Muhahaha…
I sincerely hope the individual lens elements don’t actually come in contact with one another when fully collapsed. That sounds like a recipe for damaging the surfaces and any coatings. More likely is that there would be a tiny gap. Quite what the patent covers, I don’t know. Collapsible lenses are hardly new, and they all move elements closer together. I can only imagine that it’s about the detailed design of the elements and the groups. After all, many lens optical designs have been patented in the past – like the Sonnar.
Anyway, I think if people want compact lenses (especially zooms), then collapsible designs are inevitable.
+1
And without dust and moisture sealing (more difficult bcs the lens will expand and contract) it will be worse.
Still, an interesting thing. Bigger is better seems passe.
if a telescoping lens tec was implemented maybe we could get an adjustable macro ratio
I think the lenses that are “in contact” with each are not the ones that would actually shift when the lens collapses and expands. It is actually nothing new to have lens elements cemented to each other.
Looks like a prime lens. I would be pretty disappointed if the first compact lens Sony came out with (other than the 16mm) was a zoom lens. But that’s me.
11 elements in at least 7 groups and it “looks like a prime lens” ! Come on…
There are certainly primes with more than 11 elements out there, so I wouldn’t read much either way from the number of elements.
The design (when extended) is nominally a Sonnar derivative, but as the applications of such lenses are so broad, it’s hard to make a guess at the focal length(s) this particular example will offer.
A tele prime is a possibility. Certainly, the long dimensions such a lens would normally come in (especially when you are adding 25mm to the barrel to compensate for the NEX’s short back flange) would make it a good candidate for a collapsable construction.