Product Request: Full-Frame 14mm T1.4 Lens

[Tom Lowe]

I'm talking FF35! Jim, do you think it's possible?

I'm supposed to be talking to Iain Neil this week, so you can be assured that I will be begging him to consider such a design!!

[Adam Eden]

Zeiss are about to release a 15mm Full Frame Compact Prime. T2.1. I know I have one on order!

[Tom Lowe]

That aint gonna cut it!!

[Nils J. Nesse]

Zeiss are about to release a 15mm Full Frame Compact Prime. T2.1.

Very interesting! (To those of us who aren't quite as hardcore as Tom.)

[AnthonyFlores]

Call Leica and tell them to step up to the plate!!! ;)

[Tom Lowe]

Call Leica and tell them to step up to the plate!!! ;)

Well, like I mentioned, I am scheduled to speak with Iain Neil (who designed the new Leicas) next week, so I will definitely raise this issue. I see this lens as the biggest hole in the market, right now, and in the near future.

[David Mullen ASC]

But the Leica Summilux-C lenses aren't full-frame, are they? Anyway, that series starts at 16mm so I can see a 14mm being on their "to do" list. Of course, on a FF35 sensor, 14mm is pretty wide-angle -- it would be similar in view to the classic 9.8mm Kinoptic that Kubrick used in some of his movies.

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Tom Your enthusiasm is disarming....
The reason why this has not been done is very simple- it's incredibly difficult/expensive to design a fast, large format, super wide lens.
Haven't we been over this?.. I vaguely remember...
My bet is that the front element diameter would have to be at least 5 inches. Not very practical....
That's beside the cost that would have to be very high-and that in turn shrinks the market size rapidly.
OK just imagine RPP18mm is almost 6 lbs and 100+mm diameter. You are talking about a lens 25% wider- almost twice fast and covering twice the area. Simple calculation will give you triple the size. Need I say more?

[Jacek Zakowicz]

But the Leica Summilux-C lenses aren't full-frame, are they? Anyway, that series starts at 16mm so I can see a 14mm being on their "to do" list. Of course, on a FF35 sensor, 14mm is pretty wide-angle -- it would be similar in view to the classic 9.8mm Kinoptic that Kubrick used in some of his movies.

Leicas are 4 perf full aperture not 8 perf vista vision...

[Tom Lowe]

Jacek, where there is a will, there is a way, my friend! I mean, people are willing to pay $30,000 for Master Primes and Leicas right now. The front element on the 12mm UP is huge, for example. In the cinema world, as you know, cost is not the only issue. There are people out there with bucks. Look at the Leica primes! $180,000 and they are backordered for more than a year!

To me, it does not matter at all what the size or the cost is -- just make it. People will come. Not to mention that if you made this FF35, it could be fitted with EF and Nikon mounts, and would sell like hotcakes to high-end stills shooters.

David, of course the Leicas are not FF35. The 18mm barely covers the Epic. That is why I see this huge, huge hole in the lens market right now. There are tens of thousands of 5D2 shooters out there needing fast, wide glass, and when Jim drops the FF35 Monstro Epic, this gap will be further amplified.

It takes a long time to design a new lens, so my hope is that Leica or Zeiss or Jim or someone will step up to the plate now and start designing this lens.