New tools - innovations in single lens reflex camera photographic lenses

PSA Journal, July, 1992 by Sil Horwitz

The lens manufacturers are going ahead full steam these days with innovative designs, large apertures with excellent correction, and almost any amount of automation you may desire. The most popular designs (zooms of f/3.5/f4 with focal lengths of 35-70mm and 70/ 80-200mm) are very reasonable in prices, with the large aperture-large focal length lenses being priced up in the clouds. Here are some snapshot descriptions of some of the new ones.

Canon has introduced two new compact, lightweight EF lenses featuring built-in Ultrasonic motors for high-speed autofocusing. With the tiny motors part of the lenses, precise start/stop operation is possible, as well as being quiet and fast. The first lenses in the "Micro UltraSonic Motor" series ("micro" meaning the size of the motor) are the Canon EF 35-80mm f/4.5-5.6 and the EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5.6. These lenses use the EOS mount, and neither has a macro switching function, nor distance scales. The 35-80 (Illustration 1) is a real lightweight (6 oz/170g) with a diameter of a little more than 2.5 inches (65mm) and length enteded of 2.375 inches (66mm). It can focus down to 1.3 feet (.38mm). The 35-105mm (Illustration 2) weighs 9.8 oz (280g), and is 2.75 dia x 2.5 in long (68 x 63mm). (Canon U.S.A., Inc., One Canon Plaza, Lake Success, NY 11042)

Two large aperture, long telephoto lenses from Nikon also incorporate built-in motors for focusing, required because of the length of the lenses and the power required to drive them. Both operate in autofocus mode only with the F4 Nikon; manual focusing is possible with all other Nikon SLR's. The 300mm f/2.8 has a diameter of approximately 5 inches (124mm) and is 10 inches (241mm) long, weighing almost 6.5 pounds (2900g). The 600mm f/4 has a diameter of 6.5 inches (166mm), length of 16 inches (417mm), and weighs a little more than 13 pounds (6050g). Both lenses have aperture and distance scales, as well as a built-in, rotatable tripod mount (these lenses are not for hand-holding). (Nikon Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, NY 11747-3064)

The independent lens manufacturers have not been idle either. Tamron has introduced a number of innovative entries for Minolta and Nikon autofocus cameras. The Tamron AF 35-105mm f/2.8 has an aspherical lens element to achieve the large aperture while maintaining relative small size (Illustration 3). Overall length is approximately 4 inches (99mm), diameter is less than 3 inches (72mm), and the lens weighs 22.4 oz (650g). Suggested retail price is $1089. There is also an AF 72-210 f/2.8 for the same cameras (Illustration 4). This lens will replace the 80200 f/2.8, which was well received. It is around 3.5 inches (90mm) diameter, 7 inches (179mm) long, and weighs 47.6 oz (1360g). Price was not available at press time.

Another long focus lens, the AF 300mm f/2.8, using "internal floating focus" was also introduced by Tamron for the Nikon AF cameras (Illustration 5). The individual elements travel independently to maintain the optimal distance between each other within the whole focusing group, thus reducing aberrations prevalent in using lenses like this wide open. This is no lightweight, either, weighing in at 5 pounds (2250g), and having a diameter of 4.7 inches (120mm) and length of 8.5 inches (217mm). (Tamron Industries, Inc., 99 Seaview Blvd., P.O. Box 388, Port Washington, NY 11050-4610; (800) 827-8880)

Spanning both ends of the focal spectrum (almost), Vivitar is marketing both a new ultra wideangle 17-28mm f/4-4.5 (Illustration 6) and an ultra compact 500mm f/8 mirror lens (Illustration 7), both in mounts to fit most manual focus SLRs. The wideangle is 3.2 inches (82mm) long and weighs a little more than a pound (490g); filter size is 72mm. This should be a great lens for dramatic perspective shots. The new 500mm lens is only 3.4 inches (86mm) long and weighs only 13 oz (360g), focusing as close as 5.7 feet (1.7m) for macrophotography. This lens can use 30.Smm rear-mount filters or 72mm filters in the front. (Vivitar Corp., 9350 DeSoto Ave., P.O. Box 2193, Chatsworth, CA 91313-2193)

Not to be outdone in the big tele category, Sigma is making available an AF 800mm f/5.6 (Illustration 8) in mounts for Minolta, Nikon, and Canon autofocus, and most other manual focus cameras. Though Sigma calls it the "world's smallest" for its focal length, it still weighs in at 11.5 pounds, and is 6.2 inches in diameter and 16.2 inches long. To push size even further, there is the Sigma 1000mm f8 APO (Illustration 9), also with internal focusing, available in the same mounts as the 800mm lens. This lens weighs almost 10 pounds, with a diameter of 5.7 inches and length of 21.4 inches. Both these lenses are provided with tripod mounts, as a sturdy tripod is a must. (Sigma Corp. of America, 15 Fleetwood Ct., Ronkonkoma, NY 11779).

There are many more to consider, but descriptions will have to wait for a future New Tools.