Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/04/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]i second frank: good research. by the time of the second noctilux came out in 1976, midland was presumably was using newer systems. wonder what followed those computers after retirement in 1970. -rei p.s. i studied computer science and until this morning i'd never heard of konrad zuse, though a little googling shows what a shameful bit of ignorance this is. On Apr26 06:44, Frank Filippone wrote: > Fascinating.... The Z5 ran using relays for computation. Vacuum tubes were > considered too unreliable at 50% downtime. > > I guess this is definitive.. the Nocti was designed using a computer, as > the > Computer use was "common" at Leica in the 50's, we can assume it was really > common in the 60's. > > Frank Filippone > red735i@earthlink.net > > Since there exists a recent thread concerning the Noctilux and whether it > was already done using ray-tracing on electronic computer: The answer is > yes. > > Leica introduced its first computer in 1952, a Zuse Z5: > http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/%7Ezuse/Konrad_Zuse/en/rechner_z5.html > > It was featuring a CPU clock speed of 40 Hz! Weight: 2 tons. The > dual range 2/50 Summicron, the Elmar 2.8/50 and the Summilux > 1.4/50 (first version) were all computed on the Z5. > > On a German discussion board I found some additional information: > > In Midland, the first computer was an IBM 604, purchased in 1954. They > consumed 150.000 punch cards per month (about 10 cards were needed > to compute a single lens surface). From 1958, an IBM 650 took over, > which was leased at IBM in Toronto. In the same year, Wetzlar purchased > a British Elliott 402F for its ray tracing. The same machine was > then obtained for Midland as well and the Wetzlar one remained in > use until 1970. It is obvious that the Noctilux was developed using > this Elliot computer. > > Best regards, > Holger > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Rei Shinozuka shino@panix.com Ridgewood, New Jersey