Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/01/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I agree that the same level of precision was possible but I know from experience that it is now more consistently realized. I have not had to return a single modern lens due to suspect optical performance. With older lenses there can be significant variation from lens to lens. I have had a few turkey Leitz lenses. John Collier On 25-Jan-05, at 11:33 PM, Frank Dernie wrote: > Adhesives are widely used in almost every engineering discipline now. > It is lighter and cheaper and plenty strong and accurate enough. I do > not agree that the recent lenses are necessarily better than older > because of modern machining though. They certainly no longer need > massively skilled technicians to assemble them, but the old stuff, > hand assembled, shimmed and carefully inspected during assembly should > all be the same as each other within similar tolerances to recently > lenses, it just takes more manual skill and time to achieve the same > level of consistency. > That is not to say the recent designs are not optically better, my 35 > f1.4 aspherical is comfortably the best 35mm lens I have ever used, > obvious even on the RD1, it is just that my experience of precision > mechanics shows me that it is much cheaper and less skilled to reach > the same level of precision nowadays than 30 years ago, but the final > level of precision is no greater today than then. Materials, OTOH are > hugely better today than then.