topic Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements should make lenses cost less in EF & RF Lenses

Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements should make lenses cost less

dpsaiz — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:01:38 GMT

Considering what EF and RF lenses cost the consumer do you believe that those prices are justified when the manufacturing of plastics components is easier as opposed to the manufacturer of glass elements.

The manufacture costs of anything plastic on a mass scale is lower than that of glass or metal.

Canon uses plastic elements in it's L lenses do you believe it justified the high cost.

I feel that any cost savings that company enjoys should be passed on to the customers.

Having spent most of my career working in the in the chemical and plastics manufacturing business, I know a little bit about The cost of raw polymer as they go to the manufacturer before they become a final product.

They are sold by the railcar full at fractions of a cents per pound.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

ebiggs1 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:35:03 GMT

"... plastics components is easier as opposed to the manufacturer of glass elements."

The optical elements are never made of plastic in "L" series lenses.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

jrhoffman75 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 10:13:29 GMT

"Canon uses plastic elements in it's L lenses do you believe it justified the high cost. "

Actually I don't believe Canon uses plastic elements in it's L lenses.

Faulty premise = faulty argument.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

Tintype_18 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:34:20 GMT

Seems a plastic lens wouldn't have the clarity of high quality glass.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

jrhoffman75 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:41:36 GMT

@Tintype_18 wrote:

Seems a plastic lens wouldn't have the clarity of high quality glass.

Many of the consumer grade lenses do use molded plastic optics for cost saving, weight saving and design ability. The under $500 45mm f/1.2 lens is an example.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

shadowsports — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:48:04 GMT

A little history and walk down memory lane...

L series glass. Interesting read.

World of L-Series Lenses | Canon U.S.A., Inc. https://share.google/YGj6d1OqHrFPzeAKU

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements should make lenses cost less

FloridaDrafter — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:16:03 GMT

Canon does use what they call a "Blue Spectrum Refractive (BR) camera lens optical element" in some of their L series, typically wide angle and some medium tele lenses. It's made of a proprietary, custom-developed organic optical material, described as a special optical resin/polymer. To my knowledge, this isn't "plastic", but sometimes referred to in that manner.

It's shaped then sandwiched between concave and convex glass elements. This BR element helps to focus the blue spectrum, which is problematic, onto a single focal point that aligns with the rest of the visible spectrum. Most of Canon's L series lenses use optical glass or fluorite to make this correction.

Newton

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

henry_collins — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 22:26:23 GMT

Plastic elements themselves are cheap in bulk, but the real cost in lenses is the design, precision molding, coatings, and especially consistency/yield. A single aspherical element doesn’t make the whole lens “cheap” to produce, assembly tolerances and calibration often dominate cost. Also, Canon’s L pricing isn’t just materials it’s R&D, weather sealing, autofocus systems, and quality control at scale. Even if some savings exist from molded elements, companies rarely pass them straight through 1:1 to retail pricing.

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

jrhoffman75 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 22:31:51 GMT

@henry_collins wrote:

Plastic elements themselves are cheap in bulk, but the real cost in lenses is the design, precision molding, coatings, and especially consistency/yield. A single aspherical element doesn’t make the whole lens “cheap” to produce, assembly tolerances and calibration often dominate cost. Also, Canon’s L pricing isn’t just materials it’s R&D, weather sealing, autofocus systems, and quality control at scale. Even if some savings exist from molded elements, companies rarely pass them straight through 1:1 to retail pricing.

Exactly.

Look at the design, engineering and manufacturing complexity of this lens.

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2021/01/the-secret-of-the-broken-element-a-canon-rf-100-500mm-f4-7-7-1-teardown/?srsltid=AfmBOooEGDpQM3gvZ_v0TVqgISlBN0B5M3I3nuknV0LS0f2gtsrshf_x

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements should make lenses cost less

LeeP — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 19:50:36 GMT

"Canon L-series use plastic elements. While L-series lenses are primarily known for high-grade optical glass and fluorite elements, Canon uses specially formulated "optical resin" for specific tasks. These molded resin elements are used to achieve complex shapes that are impossible or too expensive to grind into traditional glass."

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements

LeeP — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 19:51:23 GMT

wrong

Re: Plastic molded (PMo) aspherical elements should make lenses cost less

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 22:09:15 GMT