Plastic lens elements rather than glass?

13 years 3 months ago #22721 by CanonKid
Do they make lenses with plastic elements rather than glass? I was just thinking this would make the lens much lighter. Or are there some reasons why they don't make plastic elements? I can under stand the outside one, because it could scratch. But what about the inside ones?

Canon 7D, 15-85mm, 18-55mm, 70-200mm, 100mm Macro, Sigma 120-300mm, Speedlite 430EX II

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13 years 3 months ago #22732 by TiaMia
As far as I know, they do not. But it wouldn't surprise me if there is plastic lenses out there.


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13 years 3 months ago #22747 by Screamin Scott
There are lots of "plastic" lenses out there, especially on the lower end point & shoot cameras. That said, they are also used on higher end DSLR lenses. When a lens states that it has an "aspherical" element, that means it has a plastic element in the formula. That's not a bad thing either as this Wiki points out...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens#Manufacture

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13 years 3 months ago #22751 by CanonKid

Screamin Scott wrote: There are lots of "plastic" lenses out there, especially on the lower end point & shoot cameras. That said, they are also used on higher end DSLR lenses. When a lens states that it has an "aspherical" element, that means it has a plastic element in the formula. That's not a bad thing either as this Wiki points out...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens#Manufacture


Gotcha,

So what I don't understand is why only used in inexpensive lenses and camera's? It's lighter, so wouldn't the lens manufactures be all over this in lens productions? Or does the light not pass through it the same?

Canon 7D, 15-85mm, 18-55mm, 70-200mm, 100mm Macro, Sigma 120-300mm, Speedlite 430EX II

A bad day at the race track is better than a good day in the office

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13 years 3 months ago #22753 by Screamin Scott
The Wiki article said this "Aspheric elements are used in the design of multi-element wide-angle and fast normal lenses to reduce aberrations." they are used in higher end lenses...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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13 years 3 months ago #22832 by Scotty

Screamin Scott wrote: There are lots of "plastic" lenses out there, especially on the lower end point & shoot cameras. That said, they are also used on higher end DSLR lenses. When a lens states that it has an "aspherical" element, that means it has a plastic element in the formula. That's not a bad thing either as this Wiki points out...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens#Manufacture


Didn't know that scott. Thanks for the info.

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13 years 3 months ago #22842 by Baydream

Screamin Scott wrote: The Wiki article said this "Aspheric elements are used in the design of multi-element wide-angle and fast normal lenses to reduce aberrations." they are used in higher end lenses...

Wow. Interesting.

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