Are aspherical camera lenses better than spherical lenses?

When it comes to camera lenses, aspherical lenses are an unavoidable topic. Many people think that aspherical lenses are a symbol of high-end lenses, and almost all high-end lenses adopt aspherical designs.

The characteristic of aspherical lenses is that their surface shape is designed according to specific optical calculations. Aspherical lenses can be aspherical on one side and spherical on the other side, or both sides are aspherical. Generally, lenses containing two or more aspherical lenses are considered to be very advanced optical devices. So, is aspherical technology really so difficult to achieve?

The popularity of aspherical technology

In fact, aspherical technology has also been widely used in the field of glasses, and its cost is not higher than that of spherical lenses. The development of CNC grinding machine technology has made it easier to make aspherical lenses. Many people's understanding of aspherical lenses still remains in the myth of Leica 50mm f/1.2 lens, but this myth has long been broken.

Despite this, many people are still confused about the concept of "grinding aspherical surfaces". In fact, for most people, it is difficult to judge whether the lens is aspherical design through photos.

The advantages and disadvantages of aspherical lenses

Are aspherical lenses definitely better? Even for top camera brands, it is impossible for every lens to be aspherical. Aspherical lenses usually play an auxiliary role in lens design, mainly used to correct aberrations. After using aspherical lenses, the distortion problem at the edge of the image can be effectively solved, making the photos more uniform and clear.

From the current situation, aspherical technology has become a standard configuration for high-end lenses, especially in large aperture wide-angle zoom lenses, aspherical design is almost indispensable to ensure image quality.

The choice of movie fans

For ordinary photography enthusiasts, the aspherical lenses that can be used are relatively limited. Most people use cameras mainly from the 1960s to the 1990s, and before the 1990s, the application of aspherical lenses was not popular. Taking the 135 format as an example, there are even fewer aspherical lenses in the 120 format. Zeiss has created many classic lenses, such as the 38mm f/4.5 on the SWC, which do not use aspherical designs.

In the series of SLR lenses designed by Zeiss for Nikon, many lenses do not use aspherical lenses, but this does not prevent them from taking high-quality photos. For example, the 50mm f/1.4 SLR lens, although it does not have an aspherical design, its image quality is still excellent.

In summary, aspherical lenses are not necessarily better than spherical lenses. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The key is how to choose the right lens according to specific needs.