Another questions of the XL1s

[Mitch Buss]

I heard from a slighty uncredible source that the stock XL1s comes with plastic lenses instead of glass. Now I do not know if he meant just the detachable one or the ones in the body of the camera, but he said it costed a couple thousand dollars to insert glass ones in. I wanted to know if this is true that the lenses are plastic, and if so, does it create a huge difference in the picture as opposed to glass. Can someone please just give me some credible information.

Thanks,
Mitch

[Jean-Philippe Archibald]

I don't know what is your source but don't beleive them! The 16X lens is a great piece of real glass.

[Ken Tanaka]

Mitch,
As Jean-Philippe noted, your source is badly informed. It's an excellent piece of glass for the money.

Good for you coming here to ask!

[Mitch Buss]

Are there any lenses in the body of the camera that he may have been referring to? I just want to be sure that I do not have to go spending another couple thousand dollars on replacing these.


Also, just out of curiosity, how much does a Mini 35 kit cost? I've been seeing lots of people talk about them and my curiosity has been fully peaked.

Mitch

[Ken Tanaka]

Are there any lenses in the body of the camera that he may have been referring to?

The viewfinder's lens may be plastic. But basically, no. Your friend's just misinformed.

Also, just out of curiosity, how much does a Mini 35 kit cost?

Approximately $10,000 new. This does not include lenses. You can learn more about it at ZGC's site. They are also a dealer for P+S Technik. I think many, probably most, users rent the adapter and prime lenses for specific projects.

[Dylan Couper]

Mitch, your friend wins a prize for craziest rumour of the year for sure!
...
Wait a sec.... He doesn't work for Panasonic or Sony, does he? :)

[Jeff Donald]

In uninformed circles, the 16x white lens, is referred to as a plastic lens. The outer case is a composite material, but so are football helmets. Most cameras and lenses use composite materials to reduce weight and costs. The white color is used to reduce thermal expansion, which can change the way a lens focuses.

In regards to plastic internal components, specifically the optical elements, most if not all are probably glass. However, it should be noted that many of the finest lenses today use plastic. Canon perfected (and patented) a means of partially molding aspherical lenses. So, if you have a lens with an aspherical element, it more than likely contains plastic. Canon licenses this technology, so most manufactures use this technique today. Zeiss and Leitz (Leica) still grind most of their aspherical elements, so that's one reason why they offer $2000+ wide angle lenses.