Bruce Rubenstein wrote: > > It isn't how many times you can get the mechanism to work, it's the > alignment of the lens elements. Those lens elements are going to have > relatively small diameters and axial alignment tolerances have to be > very tight to keep performance from going down the toilet. Let's not > forget this has to be mass produced and still has to be cost competitive > in its class.
This is not rocket science, folks... This is just plain attention to detail and being respectful of the specified mechanical tolerances. When/while the central lens package has been taken out of the optical path, from then on, it's simply a matter of protecting it from damage, or damaging something else. Once it sashays back _into_ the optical axis, it must nestle into position positively and surely, each and every time. This is not magic. This is precise mechanical engineering. It might require some fancy 'tricks of the trade' but it's not undoable. I don't know... perhaps 45 years of designing E/M assemblies has jaded me. I tend to think if it can be conceived, it can be brought to fruition. IF the ME does his job... > Who ever buys this camera will be paying for that flat > storage feature in more ways than they imagine. > > BR Can't say I agree. If the Pentax engineers haven't provided for all possibilities and accounted for all exigencies, then if you have a problem, it's the engineers you ought to blame, not the design. If the design engineers have done _their_ job right, and the manufacturing engineers have done _their_ job right, and it's been proven with extensive testing, and the assemblers have done _their_ job right ~ it will work and work well. A 'trick' design doesn't mean a cheap or insufficient design... It's merely a new and unique way of looking at things! Keith > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >> > >> > > > >If the electro-mechanical engineer has done HIS job well, it will > >easily survive... > >1000 times is a picayune goal! I seriously doubt that it closes with a > >SLAM! It undoubtedly eases up, in and closed, and gently settles into > >it's dock, nice and snug... > >You ought to get 100,000 cycles or more out of a gentle motion like that! > > > >
