Friday, November 16, 2012

In-depth LENS Primer by CANON, The EF Lens World - Canon Europe

A common complaint when using 'Sport' Cams for our Aerial Photo/Video needs is the inerrant 'barrel distortion' which is also often associated with the use of Wide Angle Lenses. In short the wider the 'angle of view' the greater the  'barrel distortion'  ... 

Although this distortion can be fixed (somewhat) in post-processing but for it to be done in-camera the manufacture needs to implement it within Firmware. Which they may or may NOT have done as for videoing general 'sports' action  'barrel distortion' is not that much of a concern. Either way it's not an easy fix as it's a issue with ALL wide angle lenses and to fix in-lens would certainly drive up the cost of it's manufacture. This would also drive up the cost for a market that does not require it fixed. I might even go so far to suggest 'Sports' Cams although can be cheap and easy to implement (thus operate) might not be the best choice for an Aerial Camera especially if 'barrel distortion' is your number main concern. 

Although 'barrel distortion' is only one characteristic and issue associated with LENS design so with that in mind I offer the following reading material.

I've found a pretty darn good read about lenses, lens design and their associated characteristics which may help one choose a more suitable camera and lens system for their NEXT AP Bird. Which is more or less in keeping with what you might want out of your next Aerial Camera or if simply looking for a new camera/lens it would certainly be in your best interest to read, it's worth the read  ...

For this in-depth primer to Lenses by none other than CANON, download and read the PDF

I would also like to point out this material is often quoted as their source material by a number authors of photographic (on-line) tutorials as it is also the quoted source for a few review sites. This is also how I came upon the material.


This reader's review:

"1933, the Precision Engineering Research Laboratory (later changed to “Canon”) was established in a room in a three floor apartment building in Roppongi in Tokyo, as a workshop for building high-quality 35mm cameras"

"1946, Serenar 50mm f/3.5! Canon first began working on lenses not long after the end of WWII. Developed and produced completely in-house, the first lens to see the light of day was the Serenar 50mm f/3.5. Serenar means “clear,” symbolising the clarity that the development team was aiming for."

 
Wait a minute, so who was making Canon's lenses prior to 1946?

I pulled the two quotes from the recommended document,
The EF Lens World, where Canon are talking about the history of their Lenses. But nowhere do they mention who it was making their lenses prior to making their own. As it happens I know who exactly who it was and any guesses as to who? Yes it was NIKON as they were making professional grade lenses for the military, universities and consumers alike since the turn of the century. I found that morsel of info documented in the history of photography and this 'history' is an interesting story in itself I would certainly recommend reading, History of Photography - WiKi.
 
Yes
EF Lens World was created by Canon so there is a certain amount of 'Corporate BS' that needs to weeded through to get at it's information. As a side note see FUD, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, also Weasel Words by Ken Rockwell.

Yes the information provided would be true for all LENS manufactures so as I see it the challenges of LENS construction set forth by Canon are no different than those of other manufactures. Given the information is relevant to all manufactures I had no issues posting what could be construed as Canons own self serving hype.

Putting the 'Photography' back into
Aerial Photography




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