[Leica] Leica T lens correction

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

So the Leica T uses software to compensate for lens shortcomings. I'm 
really shocked! But remember software correction of optical aberrations 
has been used for millennia. It is nature's way.

Consider the human eye. The eye has a primitive optical system by 
photographic standards, basically an F3.5, 20mm FL non-achromatic 
doublet. The sharp  image circle is only about 3 mm in the center of 
the fovea. All those lovely, crisp, wide angle images you see in your 
brain are constructed by software processing.

Here is what goes on in that complex computer in back of the eyeball. 
The projected image is encoded, focus is corrected, edges of objects 
are enhanced, the direction of motion is sensed, colors are assigned to 
various portions of the image depending on which cells in the retina 
are activated, small image portions are stitched together as a function 
of eyeball position to form a whole percept, and an illusion of depth 
is created by the disparity of images from each eyeball. A pseudo image 
is created for blank spots (blind spot) in the retina. Further, 
geometric shapes are corrected so that they accord with experience. 
Objects viewed at a distance are made to appear larger. Colors 
constancy is maintained despite changes in the viewing light. And so 
on.

Computer technology has reached the point where lens defects can be 
corrected in software more efficiently than in glass and certainly much 
cheaper. Glass and mechanical do dads are expensive. Microprocessors 
are cheap and getting cheaper. Why try to make a perfect lens to mount 
on a perfect camera body? Nature doesn't depend on perfect optics to 
provide a perfect image. Why should Leica?

Larry Z