1960s were truly god among men

[hamlet]

In my idle lens hunting pursuit i came across this little nugget here: link. So the 1960 got to have f0.7 aperture lenses. We are now in the last month of 2013, why don't have have flying lenses and cameras that can ride at night talking to you while catching badguys? I mean is it too much to ask to have both professional and consumer grade f0.7 aperture lenses made today?

 

[SCraig]

They would be good for low light however you better not plan on shooting anything with depth to it. The depth of field will be so narrow that you would have to absolutely nail the focus and plan on anything an inch away being out of focus.

 

[Overread19 7]

Well optical resolution demands are higher now than they were in the past - couple that with the cost of developing such a wide aperture and small market lens and you end up with a situation where most companies don't want to invest in what is basically a show off lens.

Especially today where you've got high usable ISOs and could use an f1.2 or f1.4 lens with the ISO taken just a little higher.

 

[runnah]

I think the low light ability would be canceled out by the super shallow DOF. Modern sensors could handle the low light well enough that such a low fstop isn't needed.

 

[Overread19 7]

Aye, it would help for AF focusing but other than that you'd likely never actually shoot at f0.7 unless you really wanted that tiny depth of field. REmember the video camera shot shown in the article is likely shot on a much smaller film size than there is in a DSLR (video cameras have typically had smaller film/sensor sizes)

 

[Braineack]

We are now in the last month of 2013, why don't have have flying lenses and cameras that can ride at night talking to you while catching badguys?

We do have this. I'm pretty sure the guys in the 1960s would gladly give up their f/0.6 lenses for any of the modern day stuff... Oh wait, they have.

 

[amolitor]

My lenses fly, I dunno where you're shopping.

 

[runnah]

My lenses fly, I dunno where you're shopping.

My lenses are always zooming all over the place.

 

[KmH]

Yep. Zeiss only made 10 of those lenses, and they were designed to be used at point of focus distances of between 100 to 122 km.

Many don't mention that point of focus distance has more effect on depth of field than lens aperture does.

 

[runnah]

Many don't mention that point of focus distance has more effect on depth of field than lens aperture does.

Shhh, don't tell people that or the 1.4/1.8 prime lens market will crash!

 

[hamlet]

My lenses fly, I dunno where you're shopping.

We do? What an age we live in.

 

[hamlet]

Yep. Zeiss only made 10 of those lenses, and they were designed to be used at point of focus distances of between 100 to 122 km.

Many don't mention that point of focus distance has more effect on depth of field than lens aperture does.

The more you know.