Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 3/14/07 12:34 AM, "Doug Herr" <telyt@earthlink.net> typed: > > On Mar 13, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mark Rabiner wrote: > >> AF-S DX Nikkor 18-70 mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED > > Am I alone in thinking that lens names have gotten a bit too long? > How many syllables is this, and how often does Nikon think I ought to > re-fuel in order to say the whole name? > > Doug Herr > Birdman of Sacramento > http://www.wildlightphoto.com > > > I may know what all that stuff really means! I'm a Geek! AF-S means American Field Service. High school kids on a bus with funny accents. I loved that! All Multilingual. Also means there a motor in the lens so it focuses instantly and silently like the Canon lens have for awhile and not like there's a little comical embarrassing robot in there trying against all odds to focus the thing. The little robot which just about could.. DX means its for the APS-2 format a digital lens. And I know you've used Nikons too Doug I bet you knew some of those! G stands for Goodness. It's Grrrrreat! Also stands for they don't worry you by putting an aperture ring on the lens for you to screw up the Program mode with. Just like Canons have been doing for a long time. But they don't charge you any extra for this. So a G lens you get to NOT use on an older manual body. As they'd be no way of changing the f stop. IF means internal focusing. So the lens does not get bigger when you turn it. Which can really improve handling and balance. They charge more for that. But IF can be a bad thing I'm told. IF lenses can be more flare prone. To many darned elements. Like I'd gotten a 120 macro for my Hassy 5 years ago and was sweating blood the one for the Contax a Zeiss design made in Japan had many more elements and was internal focusing as the Hassy was an up to the minute much more complex and wonderful design. But some of the smart old timers who I tend not to mess with on the Hassy and Rollei lists assured me that IF can be iffy and mean trouble with a capital IF and the classic 120 macro design made by Zeiss for Hassy was probably superior. I was assuaged. ED stands for Ed. I have a good friend named Ed. It also means Extra-low Dispersion glass Which is why I had to look it up to me that's not obvious. I think of it as "fluorite" elements but maybe that's not it! Instead of FLO they put ED is what I remember. Flo and Eddy! I can remember that and I do! Ed would seem to mean Extra Dispersion. To me. I think they need the L. ELD glass. But no. And "Dispersion" sounds like of vague to me. I cant seem to focus on it. What does it mean and why would I want that? I don't know. But it cost more so its probably a good thing. The bad things get dispersed. Mark Rabiner 8A/109s New York, NY markrabiner.com