Re: infinity lock

[schooler@apollo.hp.com]

>I never did quite understand the infinity lock. Whenever I played with a lens
>so equipped, it always got in the way. Happily, none of my Leitz lenses have
>the lock.

The idea originated on screw-mount lenses, where one has to turn and
turn to mount and dismount the lens.  Often, most of the grabbing
surface is the focussing ring.  With the infinity lock, one doesn't
end up racking the focus all the way one way or another when changing
lenses.

This is less of a factor for bayonet-mount lenses, and is probably
largely a hold-over, and so is mostly seen on earlier lenses.

        -- Richard (collector and occasional user of Canon screw-mount
                    rangefinders) 

-- 
======================================================================
Richard Schooler                        Hewlett-Packard
schooler@apollo.hp.com                  300 Apollo Drive
(508) 436-5452 fax:5135                 Chelmsford, MA  01824