Price of prime lenses

[RalphC]

Can anyone explain why three prime lenses of varying focal length vary so much in price?

Ignoring that you can get them cheaper, looking at Grays of Westminster price list, the following lenses cost:

35mm f/1.4G £1,400
50mm f/1,4G £300
85mm f/1.4G £1,250

Is the nifty fifty cheaper because of demand or is there a technical reason? It is not intuitive that the middle one is cheaper by a factor of five.

 

[boyfalldown]

Quick answer is 50mm lenses are far and away the easiest to design and build. There is also a lot more glass in the other two.

 

[Scarecrow]

I'm guessing competition from 3rd party suppliers may be one reason. Perhaps the 50mm has greater sales which allows them to be sold at a lower price. Perhaps the 35 and 85 are more difficult to make as they require more specialised glass/construction to keep on top of distortion/aberrations/whatever. All purely speculative on my part. You could always try giving the lens manufacturer a call if you really want to know.

 

[casts_by_fly]

the 35 and 85 have recently been updated and are at premium prices. The 50 is a bit older.

Also, the 35 and 85 have a lot more glass in them and good glass isn't cheap.

Rick

 

[RalphC]

Sorry for being thick here but why isn't it linear? Why do 35 and 85 need more glass than 50?

 

[casts_by_fly]

Without me being a lens designer, I'd imagine the 85 needs more to let in enough light to get f1.4. The 35 will need it to help with distortion.

More simply, just look at the weight of the lenses. The 35 and 85 are twice as heavy and have 2 extra elements in them (probably to correct distortion and CA if I had to guess).

Thanks
Rick

 

[Nawty]

35mm is wide angle and you need more glass to bend the light in the correct way without losing sharpness and suffering CA.

85mm is telephoto and you need more glass to achieve the f/1.4 aperture (also as it is telephoto it magnifies and flaws in the glass).

50mm is a normal lens and is a very basic design that doesn't need lots of glass to correct the problems associated with wide angle and doesn't need the large amounts of glass needed for a low aperture telephoto lens.