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HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced
#36
I reckon that up to the early-2000s you were still able to detect a "signature" in lenses - at least in some of them. The FA Limiteds are probably a good example of this.
Probably because it was more craftsmanship in the hand of a few with some degree of computer-aid.

Thereafter, things probably shifted to human-aided computer designs. And I suppose that at least in the case of Sony and Canon, they are entering the era of human-verified designs.
Let's face it - lens design is an optimization problem and computers are just better at this. Of course, computers don't work without algorithms that have to be written but I suppose that these are mostly commodities these days.

It also explains why some 'kiddies' (young entrepreneurs) in China can release lenses every few months in their newly formed companies.
This also explains why especially Sony is capable of churning out complex high, performance prime lenses at an unprecedented rate. The rapid increase in optical performance is probably another indicator of the "algorithm war". I'm sure that they started using machine learning techniques some years ago already.

I think the bigger hurdle in this whole game is now manufacturing accuracy. We all know centering issues but this is where there's a HUGE gap between the "professionals" and the others.
The big boys started to master this just recently. I think this is also one of the various reasons why lenses got so expensive lately - reducing the margin of error is tough.

This race for reducing the margin of error is surely also the reason why Leica is so expensive and why Pentax has to raise the price level now. It's probably amazing the Pentax can keep their price levels so "low" because their production volume is probably not (much) higher than over at Leica anymore.
Chief Editor - opticallimits.com

Doing all things Canon, MFT, Sony and Fuji
  


Messages In This Thread
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-15-2021, 05:29 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-16-2021, 10:43 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by Klaus - 10-16-2021, 11:03 PM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-19-2021, 07:35 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-18-2021, 08:58 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-19-2021, 08:45 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-19-2021, 09:17 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-23-2021, 06:24 AM
RE: HD PENTAX-D FA 21mm F2.4ED Limited DC WR announced - by davidmanze - 10-24-2021, 08:37 AM

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