Goodbye, Bulky Lens

"Paper-Thin Lenses Could Shrink Cameras and Holographic Displays:
Nanostructured sheets of silicon can bend light in unusual ways, eliminating the need for bulky lenses."
MIT Technology Review | 19 February 2015


A new nanostructured material makes it possible to replace bulky lenses and other optical devices with a thin sheet of material such as silicon.


source: http://www.technologyr​eview.com …and-holographic-displays/

I think that nanotechnology is interesting, especially as it relates to photography. I'm familiar with its use in lens coating but not its potential much beyond that.

The technology is interesting, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to replace current lens designs. I know a few former classmates working with similar technology, and their production costs are staggering, horribly time consuming, and have so far shown a rather poor yield for the quality. (They are however working with the technology for focusing stuff on the xray scale, but everything in the article seems to suggest it is still rather similar.)

But of course one of the awesome things about science is that you never know when a massive breakthrough is going to come. Someone might walk out of their lab tomorrow afternoon with some radical and cool solution to the problems involved, and make an 800mm f/2.8 pancake lens with flawless optics that costs $100.

I don't closely follow the technology, but I do foresee photographers looking back at today's DSLRs and laughing at how big and bulky they were.

If paper-thin lenses are in the future, I expect that they're far enough off that I won't live to see them. It's fun to speculate, though.

Not everyone minds the size and weight of today's DSLRs. I find it easier to hold steady my 5DIII + 24-70 or 70-200 f/4 than my S95 P&S.

I'm sure you meant lens hood and not cap. And some people always use hoods... indoor and out... for protection.

^^ LOL!!

x2 I leave my lens hood on for protection.

moJoePDX wrote in post #17444374
I leave my lens hood on for protection.

is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Call me old fashioned but I think it's best to just completely abstain from knocking your lens into things. But if you just can't then I suppose it's best to use protection.

travisvwright wrote in post #17449049
Call me old fashioned but I think it's best to just completely abstain from knocking your lens into things. But if you just can't then I suppose it's best to use protection.

Must be nice to never have anything unexpected happen around you. I've had gear knocked off a solid block of concrete before when a truck caught the far end and managed to spin the block.

Plus, you can still get lens flair indoors. Even if you're in a studio working with controlled lights you can still get bounce that can fall back on the lens itself in undesirable ways. If you have a hood, then why not use it? The only time it is going to be bad to use a hood is when it can either be easily blown off in high wind conditions, or will physically get in the way.

It would be interesting if these changes materialize in quality and economic lens without wait a lot of time.
But unfortunately every time I read this news with revolutionary perspectives, do not result in anything concrete.

alessandro2009 wrote in post #17455018
It would be interesting if these changes materialize in quality and economic lens without wait a lot of time.
But unfortunately every time I read this news with revolutionary perspectives, do not result in anything concrete.

A concrete lens would suck

Nice joke.

Note:
Naturally I am referring to something that is then actually put on the market

That would be quite the bulky lens

How strong would a paper thin Lens would be? Fart in its general direction and it would shatter?..............​.

First, we'll have to wait until this technology results in an actual product. Then we'll have to see if it really compares to the current technology.

For example, when I first heard about Canon's DO lenses, I thought great! But the DO lenses have not been received well because they have issues compared to existing lenses.