Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/05/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]There seems to be considerable variation between samples of lenses. From an engineering standpoint it is not surprising that zoom lenses with a phenomenal number of elements and image stabilisation vary from sample to sample. If the precision actually required to make them all more similar was applied all lenses would be as expensive as Leica lenses, and nobody would be able to afford them. A mate of mine, now retired, was a Nikon supported pro. His lenses were hand selected from production units. He said there was a big difference between samples even though this was 25 years ago when the lenses had fewer elements and metal mounts. On the fora there is loads of strong and contradictory opinion about lenses, and the ones where owners opinions vary most significantly tend to be the most complex ones, particularly the ones with image stabilisation. I can imagine it being quite difficult to both make all the image stabilising units identical and to position them correctly to the ideal accuracy in use. Building these lenses down to a price, even when production volumes are about 1000x higher than Leica, pretty well guarantees variability.