Although new discoveries may happen anytime, the physics of bright lenses is pretty much restrictive.
You need a lot of optical surfaces to reduce optical aberrations for large diameter apertures...
The way to go here might be the introduction of multiple free form surfaces that may be very difficult to be found.
For example in Jena, Germany, at the Beutenberg Campus they are forging a whole optics research branch around the development of free form surfaces for technological purposes (so not really with the common photographer in mind, at least not now). A lot of mathematical research is implied as there is no "do this and then that"-way or straight forward approach to find solutions to free form problems.
There is a way, however, to reduce the length (not the diameter...) of lenses in general while maintaining the f number of a lens, and that is by using microlens arrays. Still there are major technical challenges to it as it's basically a surface technology and implementing surfaces that reduce aberrations is not trivial. Those lens arrays are made with little droplets of synthetic material and their form, as of now, is governed by cohesion forces during melting.
The disadvantage is, that the brightness of the image is maintained by superimposing multiple images (100% overlay) or having a part overlay (>100% overlay).
So you basically trade superior length (less weight and smaller in one dimension) of the optics into largely increased demands on the sensor, as it will have to have an insane pixel density to keep the resolution on par with a standard design. And this will have implications when it comes to Noise. Also at some point the optical performance of these arrays is exhausted.
Else the optical performance is mediocre but as the microlenses have sub mm diameters optical aberrations are reduced pretty much... thats why they still work so well.
A technical advantage is the very high depth of focus... art-wise that is not so welcome I guess. So I dont see a bypass of large and heavy lenses anytime soon. As of now big cameras with good handling and big grips are a future concept.
You need a lot of optical surfaces to reduce optical aberrations for large diameter apertures...
The way to go here might be the introduction of multiple free form surfaces that may be very difficult to be found.
For example in Jena, Germany, at the Beutenberg Campus they are forging a whole optics research branch around the development of free form surfaces for technological purposes (so not really with the common photographer in mind, at least not now). A lot of mathematical research is implied as there is no "do this and then that"-way or straight forward approach to find solutions to free form problems.
There is a way, however, to reduce the length (not the diameter...) of lenses in general while maintaining the f number of a lens, and that is by using microlens arrays. Still there are major technical challenges to it as it's basically a surface technology and implementing surfaces that reduce aberrations is not trivial. Those lens arrays are made with little droplets of synthetic material and their form, as of now, is governed by cohesion forces during melting.
The disadvantage is, that the brightness of the image is maintained by superimposing multiple images (100% overlay) or having a part overlay (>100% overlay).
So you basically trade superior length (less weight and smaller in one dimension) of the optics into largely increased demands on the sensor, as it will have to have an insane pixel density to keep the resolution on par with a standard design. And this will have implications when it comes to Noise. Also at some point the optical performance of these arrays is exhausted.
Else the optical performance is mediocre but as the microlenses have sub mm diameters optical aberrations are reduced pretty much... thats why they still work so well.
A technical advantage is the very high depth of focus... art-wise that is not so welcome I guess. So I dont see a bypass of large and heavy lenses anytime soon. As of now big cameras with good handling and big grips are a future concept.
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, but I have to believe that a truly silent shutter (in committee meetings, especially) and a next to zero need for big superwhites has something to do with it. In theory, in this arena of photography, Sony is far less behind than they are in sports.
