Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I personally believe that the F mount is the reason why Nikon have struggled in the film camera market for some time. In an attempt to keep backwards compatability they have not had the advantages Canon took with the change to the EF mount - electronic linkages have meant that with literally one or two exceptions, all Canon EF lenses fit all EF mount cameras and function as designed. This is not the case with all Nikon AF lenses (older bodies can't use VR at all, for example), and with the introduction of the new G series lenses Nikon are effectively abandoning their manual focus users. Canon also took advantage of the new mount to make it much larger than the FD - until the Contax N mount, it had the biggest throat of all. Again, this has paid dividends with the fast super teles, and now is usable for full-frame digital. It will be interesting indeed to see how Kodak get round the physical limitations of the F mount in their 14 megapixel monster. That's not to say that Nikon's designers and engineers haven't done a great job - simply that the constraints imposed by the F mount have probably been more burden than advantage in recent history. Nick - --- Austin Franklin <darkroom@ix.netcom.com> wrote: > > I believe Nikon is avoiding a fundamental problem, > and that is their lense > mount. It is possible that it is too narrow to > provide adequate coverage, > without vignetting on the digital sensor, on a full > frame sensor. This is > why Contax redesigned their lense mount, and made it > wider. Unlike film, > digital sensors are recessed into wells, and > therefore there is a maximum > angle that light can enter the well before causing > vignetting due to the > well depth. Film does not have this issue. > > I have heard that the Canon full frame cameras have > some vignetting with > their wide angle lenses, which was to be expected. > > Austin > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html