> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Nick Taylor > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:12 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: EOS Russian lenses > > > IMO the long Cold War years have given the western world a biased view of > Russia and its capabilities. I have not experience with Russian cameras > or lenses, but I do know that there are two Russian companies that are > producing truly outstanding astronomical telescopes. Intes-Micro is the > company that I'm most familiar with. They produce suberb glass > and mirrors > for their Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes which show no traces of > astigmatism > or chroma, and are diffraction limited. > > After WWII The Soviets acquired the entire Zeiss Jena factory > including its > technicians and R&D personnel. During the Cold War years they built very > sophisticated optical equipment for medical and scientific applications, > military use, and for the space program. At present they produce > top grade > small MCTs as well as larger aperature astronomical observatory research > grade instruments. > > But, just as in Califonia where there is still bias against > Asians left over > from the days of importing semi-slave labor to build the railroads, our > bias against the Eastern Block countries will most likely persist for a > very long time. > * > **** > ******* >
Hi Nick, We all know what the Russians were capable of for military use back in the days of the "Evil Empire." BUT for the common optics available now, price is the only feature that Russian lenses currently offer. In terms of optical performance and mechanical design these lenses are simply not very good by today's standards. They are limited by crude, 30 year+++ old lenses and matching (very crude) old style mechanical design and saddled with even worse production quality. If I were going to buy a 30 year old mechanical camera body and lenses to use with it I would buy a German or Japanese camera, certainly NOT Russian. All this shows ME is the current sorry state of the astronomical optical instrument designs for small telescopes. Yes you can go out and buy a nice looking optical telescope today at the local mall but research grade optical instruments (at least in the smaller mirrors .5 meters and up), have not changed much in the last 50 years because it's easy to make diffraction limited mirrors. The trick is to overcome the diffraction limits with creative solutions like the dynamic optics being used now in larger scopes like the Keck sisters or ESO VLA installations. Once you do this your mirrors and optics don't look so good anymore. OBTW, I'm Asian of Chinese ancestry, born and raised in Southern California and haven't a clue as to what bias you're talking about. Cheers/Chip * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
