photo: Adam Wilt

Just like Arri’s hand built cameras, lenses rely on significant manpower working in tandem with machines to deliver a crystal clear image. A quality lens is no small feat to manufacture and here’s a video showing how lenses are made to prove it. If you don’t appreciate the precision optics of lenses already, this video should convince you otherwise.

Making a lens is a highly detailed process. It isn’t a simple factory assembly line — it combines the precision of a machine with the care of the human hand. And that doesn’t even include designing the lens.

Overall, the manufacturing process takes 6 weeks for the lenses featured in the video! For cinema lenses, especially large zooms, I’m sure the timeline is significantly longer.

No wonder everything stops when one smacks the ground.

A video like this provides great insight into why lenses are so expensive and highly valued. The image of those women cleaning the glass over and over with gloves on is enough to make you shudder at the thought of using a t-shirt to accomplish the same thing.

About the author:

About the author: Evan Luzi is the editor and founder of The Black and Blue as well as a freelance camera assistant.

You can learn more about him or follow him on Twitter and Google+.