What do you do when you notice that pictures aren’t coming out the way you expected? If your Robert Cicala you investigate, and investigate he did.
Photography is itself an art form, but behind one art form lie many more; innovation, science, gear, settings, composition to name a few. In a recent series of posts, on PetaPixel, Lens Rental’s Roger Cicala set about investigating and explaining why sensor stack thickness is not just an innoculous technical spec on your camera. In short, do not buy a new lens before reading the rest of this post.
Starting with a self confessed ‘geek post’ Cicala went scientific to understand how the thickness of the sensor stack can impact on picture quality when used with certain lenses. Throwing some complicated graphs into his post for good geeky measure he concluded that:
The purpose of this post is simply to serve as a demonstration that the thickness of the sensor stack does have an effect: if a lens is designed for a certain thickness sensor stack, it may have issues when shot on a different thickness sensor stack.
In his final post on the issue the complicated science is put on a back burner. Instead, Cicala summaries when this technical clash may matter for normal photogs out there. Having discovered a little known but important compatibility problem Cicala is working to remedy the uncertainty behind whether you should go for a certain lens. He’s started an ongoing effort to provide a database for photographers about different sensor sizes and optimal exit pupil distance. It allows you to see which lens may potentially not be well suited to a thicker sensor. Worth looking at before shelling out a few grand for a new lens and then wondering why your camera is not performing the way you hoped. Head over to lens rental to support and see Cicala’s work.
Have you noticed this being a problem? Has a new lens not produced the image quality you expected?