Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/10/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Clive, I know what you mean, Ti is about half the density of steel (ally a third approx) so if you are used to steel items Ti feels very light. Aluminium and magnesium are so weak and flexible and prone to corrosion and scratching that they are not very suitable for quality long life products. It is only necessary to compare one of the early natural aluminium barrelled rangefinder lenses (contax, nikon etc) to a contemporary chrome plated brass lens to see the difference in longevity. Brass is nice to machine, takes electroplating well and has very good friction properties. It is ideal for lens mounts except for its weight. I think even the anodised aluminium black Leica lenses use brass in part of the focussing helix. I think the Leica M black rangefinder lenses are the best engineering compromise of all. The black anodic coat gives reasonable prevention from corrosion (but the base metal is so soft that the coating is easily worn off the high spots) The precision is high and weight low. I think a titanium barrelled lens would be almost pointless. It may be less prone to scratching - though unless it has some surface coating it would be prone to staining from finger marks etc.. It would be heavier than the black lenses (though much lighter than the chrome and ti oxide coated ones) and frighteningly expensive simply because it is so much more difficult to machine (the cost of engraving the numbers on a titanium barrel would be astronomical). cheers Frank On Friday, October 31, 2003, at 03:16 am, Clive Moss wrote: > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of >> Frank Dernie >> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 4:55 PM >> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >> Subject: Re: [Leica] My Leica M digital solution > ... > brass is even denser than titanium. > ... > > That was my point -- I would rather have titanium that brass -- where > it > made engineering sense and saves weight. Titanium plated brass seems to > be the worst of both worlds (weightwise -- it does seem to wear well). > Every few grams counts. I am not a metallurgist, so I have no idea what > the actual difference would be. Speaking as a consumer, my titanium > stuff feels lighter than other materials. Maybe they also contain more > plastic :-( > > -- > Clive > http://clive.moss.net > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html