Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]If I am not mistaking, the cost of older ASPH lenses was dictated by GLASS aspherical elements whereas newer ASPH have PLASTIC molded aspherical elements. Even for Leica. I don't know the particulars, but I would think you can't get the same refringency index from plastic as from heavy glass (glass with rare earth components). What do you guys know of this? Lucian On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Mark Rabiner wrote: > Pascal wrote: > > > > On 22-01-1999 02:32 Jim Brick wrote: > > > > >Leica does not make their own glass (except for R&D) and Leica buys > > >standard "off the shelf" glass from Hoya, Schott, and others. Standard > > >glass catalog items. Eloquently dissertated to us by Erwin. > > > > That's right: I have been told at Leica that they have four main > > suppliers (two Japanese, one of them Hoya, and two European, one of them > > Schott). And apparently the "special" glass would mainly come from the > > European sources. > > As for the polishing/grinding machines, many of them could be bought by > > any lensmaker. > snip > > > > Pascal > > I don't know if Leica's new cheap ASPH's is something they have that the > other guys don't. > Are these lens grinding machines on the open market? I thought Leica > developed these techniques. > Mark RAbiner >