Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From: <TEAShea@aol.com> > The real reason that all SLR's cut off some of the frame is to enable them to > make the mirror smaller - thus allowing a lighter, smaller mechanism. Yes, but greater cost/weight savings come from the pentaprism. Pentaprism is usually the single most expensive component in a single-lens-reflex camera. The weight of the prism is proportional to the cube of the coverage by dimension, and larger prisms, however small the difference is, are more costly to manufacture. Certain cheapo SLRs have even shed a prism, and uses mirrors to do the job.