The idea of 4K video lenses sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it? With modern lens design being so incredibly good and able to resolve loads and loads of detail, why does it matter? Canon developed a video explaining the science behind these lenses in a very interesting way.
Canon’s video breaks it down into four different components and talks about things like lens coatings, contrast, MTF, and resolution. According to the video, the lenses have to be able to resolve a 9MP image of some sort–which pretty much every lens released since 2009 is very capable of doing since that’s when the megapixel war took a very big leap with the release of the Canon 5D Mk II’s 21MP Â full frame sensor and Sony’s A900 24MP full frame sensor. But if lenses are too sharp, then they create moire (in conjunction with the sensor) and other issues.
What’s really cool is how they explain light loss when beams of light pass through elements on a lens and how coatings helps minimize light loss. The animated video on Canon’s 4K Video Lenses is after the jump.
