Why have lenses gotten so much bigger?

[petrochemist]

You want smaller lenses, go to a mirrorless system.

There's some validity in that, but the smallest lens I use on my mirrorless camera actually comes from a SLR - a 24mm/2.8 from a Pentax auto 110. At 12g (less than half an ounce) I suspect it's significantly lighter than most mirrorless lenses.

 

[jcdeboever]

it's not the size of the lens but the ability to control your emotion

 

[smoke665]

One of the reasons I've stayed with Pentax. The FA 77 f/1.8, weighs in at 9.5 oz, it's 2.5"x 1.9". Even smaller is the 70mm Ltd, f/2.4 which weighs in at 4.6 oz and measures 2.5"x 1". Both are excellent quality lenses that can hold their own with any of the bigger is better crowd. As JC said above, sometimes it's about how you use it.

 

[greybeard]

VR

 

[willard3]

A basic comparison of EOS EF M and EF S lens weights

18-135 EF S weighs 515 grams (Standard EOS cameras)
18-150mm EF M weighs 300g (EOS Mirrorless cameras )

I travel a lot and own both lenses and both are good lenses; guess which one I carry when I travel?

 

[markjwyatt]

Mirrorless (and in the 35mm film world rangefinder/viewfinder type cameras vs. SLRs) have the advantage in element numbers as you go to the wide angle range because the mirror in SLR/DSLR causes the lens to be further from the film plane requiring additional elements to be added to correct (i.e., retro-focus). Santa brought me a 21mm Nikon/Contax mount Voigtlander lens, and it is very compact (not super fast- f4), and really nice on my Contax IIa (and on my Kiev 4a by default, and once I get the adapter possibly on my Fuji XT-2 if I want).

 

[Braineack]

You want smaller lenses, go to a mirrorless system.

absolutely not the truth.

 

[Braineack]

A basic comparison of EOS EF M and EF S lens weights

18-135 EF S weighs 515 grams (Standard EOS cameras)
18-150mm EF M weighs 300g (EOS Mirrorless cameras )

I travel a lot and own both lenses and both are good lenses; guess which one I carry when I travel?

Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 Specs
e-mount
3.45 x 5.35" / 87.6 x 136 mm
1.95 lb / 886 g

Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC
f-mount
3.48 x 4.40" / 88.4 x 111.8 mm
1.99 lb / 904.3 g


Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens
e-mount
3.46 x 7.87" / 88 x 200 mm
3.26 lb / 1480 g

Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC
f-mount
3.46 x 7.5" / 87.88 x 190.50 mm
3.28 lb / 1.49 kg

The angle of the dangle is inversely proportionate to the heat of the meat.

 

[Tim Tucker 2]

Being an old design, the Tessar, it has only four lens elements, and it's a fantastic lens ... I heard and read a LOT of fawning comments about the Tessar lenses of various old cameras

1910 (approx) Jena glass Zeiss Tessar 17.5cm f7.2:

Quite small:

 

[Solarflare]

Manual focus lenses are much smaller because you need space for the autofocus.

It can also be seen with older Nikkor AF lenses. For example AF 50mm f1.8[D] vs the AF-S 50mm f1.8G, a quick google gave a good comparison: Rob's Photography Blog: Nikon AF-S 50mm F1.8G vs. AF 50mm F1.8D

These lenses are closer to the size of manual focus lenses, because the motor for the AF is in the camera, not the lens.

Couldnt find an image that also showed the AI-S 50mm f1.8. But there probably is one out there, too.


P.s.: Found one, finally: Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AI-S Pancake Lens Review / Bokeh Test / image quality

The extra elements are added to eleminate things like CA and fringing, at the cost of pure image quality (contrast and color saturation) IMO. I still use older smaller low element lenses. Then you have AF and VR. It’s all about your specific needs.

Hardly. Yes if theres more lens elements of course the lens might grow. However Voigtländer lenses are TINY and they are extremely good, optically, including a good amount of lens error correction. Really if you have more elements the individual element typically gets smaller than before.

Bin all your big lenses and change to the M43 system..........

Suuuuuuuuuure I'll spend more money to get less for no good reason.

You want smaller lenses, go to a mirrorless system.

The opposite is true, telephoto lenses for mirrorless have to be larger than for SLR since they need to compensate for the shorter flange distance. The way to save on lens size is by using smaller sensors.

 

[LCL999]

My major objection to Leica's range of L-mount lenses is their size as compared to their equivalent M-series lenses. And even those have got a lot bigger. Try comparing current M-lenses to their equivalents from. say, 25 years ago.