Re: [Leica] Leica] Why I like the Leica-Users and Other Stories

["SonC (Sonny Carter)" <SonC@sonc.com>]

> > on 7/18/01 4:32 AM, Peter Klein at pklein@2alpha.net
wrote:
> > > Because if they did, you'd fall in.
>
> >Gilbert Plantinga <gilplant@earthlink.net>> wrote:
> >Not exactly. You see, when you walk into a small room
with the Noctilux it
> > tends to suck all of the available light out of the room
as soon as you take
> > off the lens cap. With the wide field of view of a 28
you could do some
> > serious environmental damage outdoors! Serious photon
shortage!
>
> Quite right, Gilbert.  But it's a safety issue, too. The
stream of
> hyperaccellerated photons running at the edge of the lens'
angle of view
> creates a partial electromagnetic vacuum just outside and
behind the
> perimeter of the front element.  The wider the lens, the
farther around
> and behind the lens this vacuum goes.  At 28mm and wider,
the
> photographer is in serious danger with an f/1.0 lens. And
with wide
> lenses, you tend to get closer to your subjects,
endangering them as
> well.
>
> All this was discovered in Wetzlar in the 1950s.  Young
genius lens
> designer Heinz Blitzengartner created what he thought to
be a
> breakthrough 28mm f/1.0 lens prototype, only to be sucked
into the lens
> and implanted onto a roll of Agfachrome the first time he
tried it.
> Fortunately, Heinz' colleagues realized what had happened.
They quickly
> capped and removed the lens, and Heinz popped out of the
camera.  He was
> not seriously injured, but was so embarrased by the
unexpected turn of
> events that he quit optical design and became a quantum
physicist.
>
> --Peter

Er,  Peter,  that would be early 1958 when I moved to
Wetzlar (Beethoven Strasse).  I visited the Leitz factory,
and like any typically curious American Kid, asked the
question, "What's this button for?" (push)  I heard a
whooshing noise, and the place darkened several f stops, and
well, you know the rest.  They made me stay on the East side
of the Lahn River from then on.

Regards,
SonC