Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/04/26

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Subject: [Leica] Computer at Leica
From: shino at panix.com (Rei Shinozuka)
Date: Sat Apr 26 07:30:03 2008
References: <20080426121600.195930@gmx.net> <019701c8a7a3$9f5d2a50$de177ef0$@net>

i second frank: good research.

by the time of the  second noctilux came out in 1976, midland was 
presumably was using  newer systems.  wonder what followed those 
computers after retirement in 1970.

-rei

p.s. i studied computer science and until this morning i'd never
heard of konrad zuse, though a little googling shows what a shameful
bit of ignorance this is.


On Apr26 06:44, Frank Filippone wrote:
> Fascinating.... The Z5 ran using relays for computation.  Vacuum tubes were
> considered too unreliable at 50% downtime.
> 
> I guess this is definitive.. the Nocti was designed using a computer, as 
> the
> Computer use was "common" at Leica in the 50's, we can assume it was really
> common in the 60's.
> 
> Frank Filippone
> red735i@earthlink.net
> 
> Since there exists a recent thread concerning the Noctilux and whether it
> was already done using ray-tracing on electronic computer: The answer is
> yes.
> 
> Leica introduced its first computer in 1952, a Zuse Z5:
> http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/%7Ezuse/Konrad_Zuse/en/rechner_z5.html
> 
> It was featuring a CPU clock speed of 40 Hz! Weight: 2 tons. The
> dual range 2/50 Summicron, the Elmar 2.8/50 and the Summilux 
> 1.4/50 (first version) were all computed on the Z5.
> 
> On a German discussion board I found some additional information:
> 
> In Midland, the first computer was an IBM 604, purchased in 1954. They
> consumed 150.000 punch cards per month (about 10 cards were needed
> to compute a single lens surface). From 1958, an IBM 650 took over, 
> which was leased at IBM in Toronto. In the same year, Wetzlar purchased 
> a British  Elliott 402F for its ray tracing. The same machine was 
> then obtained for Midland as well and the Wetzlar one remained in 
> use until 1970. It is obvious that the Noctilux was developed using
> this Elliot computer.
> 
> Best regards,
> Holger
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Rei Shinozuka shino@panix.com
Ridgewood, New Jersey


Replies: Reply from editor at frontenachouse.com (editor@frontenachouse.com) ([Leica] Computer at Leica)
In reply to: Message from merlitz at gmx.de (Holger Merlitz) ([Leica] Computer at Leica)
Message from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Computer at Leica)