Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]David Rodgers wrote: >I always admired Leica lenses because they were extremely well built. >When I set my camera down hard I took consolation in the fact that the >lens elements were mounted in there rock solid. > >Perhaps that's why it's difficult for me today to warm up to a lens >where the elements are moved around by who-knows-what kind of little >mechanism. It's sort of neat that a little thing-a-ma-jig can determine >whether or not -- and more impressively how much and what direction -- >I'm shaking, and that it can quickly compensate for that. > >But again, I think I prefer that all elements be well cemented and that >those that move are in helicoids machines to extremely tight tolerances. >But that's just me. :-) It's not just you. I thought de-centering is one of the things we wanted to avoid for consistent image quality from one edge to the opposite one.. not to mention the additional internal reflections caused by the IS (or VR) unit's several glass elements. When IS was first commercialized, film was still king and mucking about with the lens was the most practical means of accomplishing the goal, but with a digital camera the sensor can be moved instead, letting the lens do its optimum thing and leaving the stabilizing to the camera body. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com