Davis S. wrote:
> I was told by a Pentax rep that there were a few A
> series lenses that had a very short production time & were never included in
> any of the standard brochures.
This actually wasn't too unusual, especially with earlier zooms. The problem
was that the yield (number of manufactured lenses that passed QC standards)
wasn't known until a run was made. But if the yield turned out to be too
low, then the lenses would have had to be sold for too high a price in order
to maintain a profit; so the lens would have been dropped. I have no idea
whether this was the fate of the SMC-M 35mm f/1.4, but it might have been
something like that. It may have also been an early ground-and-polished
aspheric lens, which the cost accountants simply decided wouldn't move at
the price Pentax would have had to sell it for.
QC was a real headache with early zooms. It was a while before the lens
designers got in sync with the kind of manufacturing QC they could expect.
--Mike
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org.
