What new lens is yet to come? Wheres the R&D now ?

[ottor]

Canon/Nikon/Major player R&D folks - what do you think their main project is now? - What new lens is being developed at this moment - I would like to think that they're working to get a quality lens manufactured at a more 'consumer' friendly price. They can work for years to get a 1500mm f/1.2, but something like that wouldn't make sense for most of us, financially...

Quality Lens's are expensive - I'd like to see them a little more affordable. I'd ask your opinion on what you'd like to see come out this year, but instead, I'll ask what do you think is 'reasonable' that has yet to be released?

 

[Big Mike]

I think that some of what they are doing, is re-engineering current lenses, improving them so that they can keep up with today's high resolution sensors.
For example, Canon's 70-200mm F2.8 L IS has been one of their most popular 'pro' lenses for long time now. But they just recently put out a new version, the 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II.

A lot of Canon shooters have made an agonizing choice between the 24-70mm F2.8 L and the 24-105mm F4 L IS. The first as the large max aperture while the 2nd has a longer range and IS. I think that a 24-105mm F2.8 L IS would sell well.

Another new lens that Canon recently came out with, is the EF-S 15-85mm IS. I suppose this is to replace the EF-S 17-85mm IS, which was a decent consumer grade lens, but did suffer from a few problems, like excessive barrel distortion etc.

Yes, I think that we would all appreciate some lower priced, high quality lenses...and hopefully that will come about due to increased competition from 3rd party manufacturers like Sigma & Tamron.

One thing that is fairly new, is that Sigma & Tamron have stared to add stabilized lenses to their line up. Sigma has their 'OS' lenses and Tamron has 'VC'. Sigma has a line of high quality prime lenses, like their 30mm F1.4 and 50mm F1.4. Most reviews say they are very sharp, and certainly less expensive than the top end Canon 30mm & 50mm lenses.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I think nikon's working on replacing all their 15-20 year old primes, and of course if you want something more affordable when the D90 replacement comes about we'll have yet another 18-xxx kit lens!

As proof with the 16-35 VR, I think that if it says Nikkor on it and has an aperture wider than f/5.6, it's going to cost more than $1000.

 

[emh]

There are also some glaring holes in the lineups that I would think they are working on filling.

For example, I think a Canon 35mm f/1.8 prime would sell very well given the explosion of cameras with APS-C sensors.

On the Nikon side, a telephoto with constant aperture and VR below the 70-200mm f/2.8 would probably do well (something along the lines of Canon's 70-200mm f/4L lenses).

 

[icassell]

I don't know what they're working on, but I know what I want. Since the cost of bodies that perform well at high ISO's has come way down, those fast long (very expensive) lenses become less necessary for some of us. I'd love to see Canon make a 500 f/5.6 IS (the 500 f/4 costs >$6k) and I'd love to see them put IS on their 400 f/5.6.

 

[Big Mike]

Another thing that Canon is/was working on is Diffractive Optics. Their line of 'DO' lenses have a green ring (instead of the L series red ring). DO makes for smaller & lighter lenses. Some examples are the 70-300mm DO, and the 400mm F2.8 DO.

 

[icassell]

Again, though, that 400 f/2.8 DO is still an expensive lens (and, by some accounts, has softness issues). Whereas my 30D didn't do very well at high ISO, my 7D can do very well at ISO's >1000 and I don't really need an f/2.8. A line of hand-holdable quality ("L") long lenses -- possibly more in the f/5.6 range -- makes sense to me.

 

[Village Idiot]

The Canon 180,145 was announced as the lens that comes with the Jackie Chan edition T2i.

 

[Derrel]

Canon's 400mm Diffractive Optics is an f/4 lens, not an f/2.8, and it has not been a big seller. Same with their 70-300 DO, which is a slow seller according to a salesman I buy from at a large B&M store--it's expensive,and the 70-300 range at that f/stop is not attractive to consumers. Consumers like lower-cost lenses. Thom Hogan just did a Nikkor lens survey, part of a long-term project he has been doing, and he got over 7,000 responders; turns out his owners' survey shows that the 35mm f/1.8 DX lens from Nikon is one of Nikon's best sellers,and it costs $199, so low-cost=big sales these days. In late 2008,in the actual announcement for the 35/1.8 lens, a Nikon V-P of marketing in Europe told the dPreview web site that D40 and D60 owners represented almost 60 percent of their sales, so the "consumer" lenses are the biggest sellers.

One thing is clear: the new lenses Canon is coming out with are no longer automatically lower-cost than Nikon's lenses. The newer Canon professional lenses are priced very,very high. The adjustment of the yen to the dollar and Euro has meant prices have gone up 25 to 35% over the past few years, and the newer 700-200/2.8 and the Canon TS-E lenses are priced sky-high. Same with Canon's 200/2 versus Nikon's 200/2. Sigma's new 70-200/2.8 Optical Stabilizer model has an MSRP of $2,400-something,and they expect it will be 'discounted' to $1249, so the lens makers are getting their profits out of everybody!

Nikon is expected to release an 85mm 1.4 AF-S this year, and also a replacement to the 80-400VR; the patent drawings on the long tele-zoom are already out, but patents do not patent a focal length range, but only a "design" of elements and spacing, which can be scaled to cover different formats--like m4/3, or Dx, or FX, or even 6x6. The new Nikon zoom is expected to have USM focusing and be a 100-500 or a 120-450,something like that. I also think Nikon might release another pro-level Nikkor, a 35mm 1.4 AF-S.

Nikonrumours.com is a web site devoted to Nikon rumors...there' also a Canon rumors web site as well. One of the biggest expected rumors is that Nikon will release its own **mirrorless** interchangeable lens camera this May to June...and that Canon might also release a mirrorless,interchangeable lens camera later this year as well, so those could impact d-slr lenses, since they are expected to use a different lens mount size than either F-mount or Canon EF-mount.

 

[Big Mike]

Canon's 400mm Diffractive Optics is an f/4 lens, not an f/2.8, and it has not been a big seller. Same with their 70-300 DO, which is a slow seller according to a salesman I buy from at a large B&M store--it's expensive,and the 70-300 range at that f/stop is not attractive to consumers.

F4...my bad.
And yes, they are expensive...too expensive.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, indeed, lens prices are going up and up and up. It's like food and gasoline and rent and insurance and movie tickets and tires and restaurant prices and.... ---ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the camera makers are in for a tough,tough period ahead. Growth has slowed, and the market is becoming saturated with d-slr's. The megapixel race seems to be slowing down a bit,and we've reached the point like with computers that we have "more than enough" camera power; I do not need a newer, more-powerful computer,and don't even lust after one,and I sure don't want to pay a lot of money for one. The camera makers like Sony are practically giving away bodies in order to sell expensive Zeiss lenses; Canon is raising lens prices; Sigma is raising lens prices; Nikon's already high prices are going even higher. Pentax has low body prices with high construction quality, but is being clobbered in the marketplace. The camera business is built around selling boatloads of low-priced d-slr's and loads of consumer zoom lenses, and a *small* amount of higher-end lenses to serious shooters. The 24-70 and 70-200's are the big high-end lenses that actually sell,a lot. But the big-glass stuff sells in low,low numbers, and the Hogan survey of 7,000 owners shows that except for a select,few lenses, the overall lens lineups have low ownership rates, like 6% and so on, for a whole slew of nice, good, middle-and upper-middle priced lenses.

Scroll down to April 19 to read what a confusing mess the lens market really is.
2010 Nikon News and Comments by Thom Hogan

 

[icassell]

Yes, indeed, lens prices are going up and up and up. It's like food and gasoline and rent and insurance and movie tickets and tires and restaurant prices and.... ---ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the camera makers are in for a tough,tough period ahead. Growth has slowed, and the market is becoming saturated with d-slr's. The megapixel race seems to be slowing down a bit,and we've reached the point like with computers that we have "more than enough" camera power; I do not need a newer, more-powerful computer,and don't even lust after one,and I sure don't want to pay a lot of money for one. The camera makers like Sony are practically giving away bodies in order to sell expensive Zeiss lenses; Canon is raising lens prices; Sigma is raising lens prices; Nikon's already high prices are going even higher. Pentax has low body prices with high construction quality, but is being clobbered in the marketplace. The camera business is built around selling boatloads of low-priced d-slr's and loads of consumer zoom lenses, and a *small* amount of higher-end lenses to serious shooters. The 24-70 and 70-200's are the big high-end lenses that actually sell,a lot. But the big-glass stuff sells in low,low numbers, and the Hogan survey of 7,000 owners shows that except for a select,few lenses, the overall lens lineups have low ownership rates, like 6% and so on, for a whole slew of nice, good, middle-and upper-middle priced lenses.

Scroll down to April 19 to read what a confusing mess the lens market really is.
2010 Nikon News and Comments by Thom Hogan

Yes, and I'll bet they'd sell a lot more lenses if they were at a slightly lower price-point. I know a fair number of amateur wildlife photographers (myself included) who would pay a couple of grand for a good 500mm, but can't justify the $6k of the Canon f/4. They settle for a Bigma or the Tamron 200-500 whereas they would probably spend a tad more for the O.E.M. which no longer has to be as fast as it used to.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, and I'll bet they'd sell a lot more lenses if they were at a slightly lower price-point. I know a fair number of amateur wildlife photographers (myself included) who would pay a couple of grand for a good 500mm, but can't justify the $6k of the Canon f/4. They settle for a Bigma or the Tamron 200-500 whereas they would probably spend a tad more for the O.E.M. which no longer has to be as fast as it used to.

Agreed,totally!! There's a need, I think, for some affordable, moderate-speed lenses in the 400,500mm range. Minolta had an ED-glass Apochromatic 400mm f/4.5 GV-series that was priced at 1/3 the price of the Canon 400mm f/4 D) lens and weighed like 4 lbs.

A short review of the Minolta AF 400/4.5 APO G

As you point out icassell, with high ISO as good as it is now, we no longer "need" the lens to have such a wide aperture as we did when ISO 400 was tops. In the 1970's there were 500mm f/6.3 long-focus prime lenses,usually simple 3- or 4-element lenses that sold for $79 or so. It's a shame that there is barely anything really "good" and yet affordable....it's a huge void...and the 400/2.8 and 600/4 13-pound lenses are just simply too damned heavy for hobby uses.

I wish Sigma would re-introduce the 500mm f/7.7,or update it to f/6.3 and sell it for $999. The current 500mm f/8 manual focus lenses are still out there (Quantaray, Bauer, Phonenix) for $99 or $109, then it's $7995.

 

[Big Mike]

Canon has a 400mm F5.6L that is only $1250.
I don't know much about it though.

 

[Joves]

Well I dont know what they have on the board. But what would I like to see on the board is another thing. I think it would be nice if Nikon made say a nice 400-800 f/4 VR. We can dare to dream cant we?