Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This whole line of discussion has been very interesting. It started with a dispute over my second-hand (but authoritative) report that the 35 mm. Summilux f 1.4 (the old one) was the last M-lens "designed without the help of computers." It seems to me that the thrust of the discussion now points to the possible truth of that statement. But I don't know that it matters much, at least with reference to the original point. Any late-50's computer would have been little help in resolving complex lens-design questions, surely less powerful than a 1980 hand-held business calculator. All it could do, I expect, would be to speed up some relatively simple calculations. I quite agree that lens design involves some subjective, "artistic" decisions. However, computers are necessary today--just for one example, the dramatic increase in zoom lens quality (including, I am sure, the already legendary Leica 70-180) could not have happened without them. But computers do not make those subjective decisions; there is no incompatibility between the use of computers to simulate possibilities and true artistry in lens design. I have every confidence that Leica designers are capable of using computers to present alternatives to themselves for them to think about in the wonderful way they have before, and am sure they will make fine choices (Yes, I wish I could afford the new zoom!). Charles E. Love, Jr. 517 Warren Place Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-7338 CEL14@CORNELL.EDU