Steve Spencer
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 p.6 #6 · A thinner sensor stack may be possible after all! | |
I think we have to keep in mind that Sony is trying to compete with Canon and Nikon not Leica. Canon and Nikon have cover glass about the same thickness as Sony chose. Would they get a competitive advantage by going with a thinner cover glass? Well, they might be able to make smaller lenses and they might attract some Leica users, but I don't see how it would really allow them to take on Canon and Nikon. In fact, I think it would make Sony quite vulnerable to criticism and prevent a number of people from switching if they chose a thinner cover glass. Keep in mind the tradeoffs.
First, a thinner cover glass will make dust much more obvious. Would that prevent some people from switching? I think so. With all the talk about dust magnets and so forth on the Canon forum here, I think it could very well prevent some people from switching and the Sony's would have more problems with dust.
Second, a thinner cover glass could well lead to IR contamination. Would that prevent some people from switching? Again in my view it would. Those sorts of quirks would lead Canon and Nikon users to say the system isn't really ready yet, IMO.
Third, the thinner cover glass would be more susceptible to breaking. Would that prevent some people from switching? Again, I can see the people fearful of having their sensor break and blowing this out of proportion just nor being willing to try Sony.
Fourth, the thinner cover glass gives them fewer options for AA filtering. How would this affect switching? Well Sony seems to have developed a strategy of quite different sensors in the A7 line. These different models give different people reasons to switch. I don't know if they could develop the different models without the flexibility in AA filtering. The A7r, it makes sense not to have a filter (the high pixel density is enough to prevent moire), but the A7s, IMO, definitely needs a filter or you would probably see a lot of moire. Would these different AA filtering strategies be possible with thiner glass? I don't know, but it would likely make it more difficult and that is another reason not to have the thin cover glass.
What about the smaller lenses? What I see Sony seems to be doing at least potentially anyway is developing three lines of primes. The first line is Sony/Zeiss and mostly f/2 and f/1.8 aperture. These lenses are designed to be excellent, fairly small and relatively unique in comparison to Canon and Nikon.
So Sony has a 55 f/1.8 that performs way better than anything Canon or Nikon has anywhere near this size. Canon's and Nikon's 50's are all based on double gauss designs, but the Sony is a Sonnar a bit longer (which it needed to be for a Sonnar or so the Suede has suggested) and really excellent. This lens is a good reason to switch and still reasonably small, IMO.
They make a 35 f/2.8 that is tiny and very good, but doesn't take head on the Canon 35 f/2 IS or the Nikon 35 f/1.8 G. The Canon and Nikon are both great lenses, but Sony doesn't have to try to beat them they can just make a different and much smaller 35 f/2.8 and Canon and Nikon don't even have a 35 f/2.8 auto focus lens. The Sony 35 f/2.8 is another reason to switch.
We also hear rumours that Sony is going to come out with a 25 f/2 by the end of the year. If they do, that lenses too would seem to fit the mould of trying to build an excellent lens that is different from Canon or Nikon that gives people a reason to switch. Canon and Nikon both have two 24's an f/2.8 and an f/1.4. So if Sony can make a 25 f/2 that is the size of the Canon and Nikon 24 f/2.8s (which I think they can), then they will have a unique lens that will again give people a reason to switch.
It will be interesting to see what the rumoured 85 f/1.8 will turn out to be. Perhaps part of the reason that this lens has taken so long to emerge is that it has been difficult to build one that gives people a reason to switch. I wonder how they might try to do so. Perhaps they will make it smaller than the Canon and Nikon 85 f/1.8s, but that would be hard. My guess is that is will be a Sonnar in the vein of the 55 that is sharp across the frame at f/1.8, which would set it apart from the Canon and Nikon.
If the rumours are correct, then they will have a very interesting set of primes with a 25 f/2, 35 f/2.8, 55 f/1.8, and 85 f/1.8, that is a great set of lens that are unique to Sony and provide a good reason to switch.
The second line of primes you can see in the upcoming 90 f/2.8 G macro and the Sony/Zeiss 35 f/1.4. These will be high level professional lenses to try to match the highest quality lenses from Canon and Nikon. These lenses, IMO, are not about trying to give people a reason to switch, but to take away a reason to stay with Canon or Nikon. The goal with these lenses will not to be smaller than Canon or Nikon, but rather to make a lens that is similar in size and performance to the lenses that some people won't want to live without.
The third line of primes that I think we may be seeing in the upcoming 28 f/2 is a set of small, very good, and relatively inexpensive primes that will allow Sony to compete more effectively with Fuji and Micro 4/3rds. These will be high performing small lenses. The 28 f2 seems well poised to compete with the Fuji 18 f/2 and the Panny/Leica 15 f/1.7.
Maybe I am wrong, but that is what I see in Sony's lens strategy and none of that would be aided by thinner sensor cover glass, whereas the tradeoffs of thinner cover glass could, IMO, really weaken their efforts to get people to switch.
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