----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Rubenstein" Subject: Re: ten new cameras
> 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. Who ever buys this camera will be paying for that flat > storage feature in more ways than they imagine. Canon had a point and shoot a while back with a 35-105mm lens, I don't recall the model designation, Sure Shot something or other. Anyway, thats not important. Canon bragged about how the lens was able to retract fully into the body by having two sets of lens elements turn 90� from the axis so that the front group could nest between them. Nice idea. They sold well, and came back in droves due to optical misalignment. Apparently, all it took was for a bit of grot to find it's way into the lens nest while the lens was denested, and the groups wouldn't align properly anymore. Also, unless the lens group and nest are brass mounts, I wouldn't expect a lot of cycles before the nest starts to wear. Time will tell.... William Robb
