How are Lenses Priced??? Can some1 pls explain?

Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Construction, and materials. Glass is not perfect and for larger optics, there is a lot more rejects because of flaws in the material. Also, the coatings are expensive and so the mechanics better made. Now does that entirely explain the difference?

How come a Chevy Cruze cost so much less than a Buick?

Ask Nikon, they might have even better reasons than I.
 
R

Rick M

Senior Member
In a very basic nutshell it's the quality and quantity of glass, coatings used to make the lenses. Same with the barrel construction and refinements. Lenses are one of the few things in life were you usually get what you pay for (most of the time :))
 
M

Mestre

Senior Member
There is also the sealing/ construction for the top end lens.

The higher the aperture the more complex the construction/optics, meaning higher quality standard and higher price
 
3

3Ring

New member
Plus the cheaper lenses in your example are DX format and the more expensive lenses are FX: smaller area means less glass to optimize.
 
C

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
Vinay Haalgaar said:
Hi Fellas,

Have a basic question. How are the lenses priced? What exactly makes a lens costly? Why are some lenses costly? I know its Fast lenses. But technically whats the actual difference between the following lenses atleast???

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DXcosts 199$ why? But

Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED AF-S costs 2000$. why exactly???


Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX costs 120$. Why? But

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S costs 2000$. Why?
Click to expand...


I think its mainly because Nikon KNEW it would piss all of us off!!! :)
 
O

Oomph

New member
Nikon CFO : " Did we put an extra screw in it"?
Nikon R&D : " No, not this unit".
Nikon CFO : " 190$, how about this one? "
Nikon R&D : " yes, one screw, about 1/4000th of an inch in diameter"
Nikon CFO : " Whats it do"?
Nikon R&D : " nothing "
Nikon CFO : "200$"

And that's how things get priced.
 
M

miknoypinoy

Senior Member
as you know the higher end lenses are a larger diameter. they might need to order more sheets of glass per lens on these. (imperfections in stock might cause nikon to not use the whole sheet). also higher end lenses sometimes use double the elements in the lens to make them faster and sharper. with that many elements now you need more mechanical /electronic elements in the lens. double the man hours for more element cutting, cleaning, polishing, aligning, assembly. then of course corporate payroll (someone had to design and test lol). overhead costs and profit mark up. (gotta make money lol). I think that sums it up. it's amazing the whole process it takes. good thread you started. makes us appreciate it a bit more (I'm still gonna complain about the costs though. lol)


I'm not afraid . . . YOU WILL BE. . . YOU WILL BE. . .
 
V

Vinay Haalgaar

New member
miknoypinoy said:
as you know the higher end lenses are a larger diameter. they might need to order more sheets of glass per lens on these. (imperfections in stock might cause nikon to not use the whole sheet). also higher end lenses sometimes use double the elements in the lens to make them faster and sharper. with that many elements now you need more mechanical /electronic elements in the lens. double the man hours for more element cutting, cleaning, polishing, aligning, assembly. then of course corporate payroll (someone had to design and test lol). overhead costs and profit mark up. (gotta make money lol). I think that sums it up. it's amazing the whole process it takes. good thread you started. makes us appreciate it a bit more (I'm still gonna complain about the costs though. lol)


Ty... I really felt this thread was needed. As we saw in that video, an optical glass costs 1000$ per kg. So even for a costlier lens, the amount of glass can't be more in kgs. and the labor is almost same. as you rightly pointed out various other motives of the company might be pinching our pockets. Lets see what others feel...
Click to expand...
 
P

pedroj

Senior Member
Found this in Wiki..I think it explains it a bit more..I spend to much time on Nikonites I've posted my 200th post LOL..

Glass is the most common material used to construct lens elements, due to its good optical properties and resistance to scratching. Other materials are also used, such as quartz glass, fluorite,[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP][SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][6][/SUP] plastics like acrylic (Plexiglass), and even germanium and meteoritic glass.[SUP][7][/SUP] Plastics allow the manufacturing of strongly aspherical lens elements which are difficult or impossible to manufacture in glass, and which simplify or improve lens manufacturing and performance.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP] Plastics are not used for the outermost elements of all but the cheapest lenses as they scratch easily. Molded plastic lenses have been used for the cheapest disposable cameras for many years, and have acquired a bad reputation: manufacturers of quality optics tend to use euphemisms such as "optical resin". However many modern, high performance (and high priced) lenses from popular manufacturers include molded or hybrid aspherical elements, so it is not true that all lenses with plastic elements are of low photographic quality.
 
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