Hi,
I'm not sure you got my point. Design of optics is not necessarily a difficult thing anymore even though all of these companies, Fuji as well as Hasselblad has the ability to do good lenses. My reason for not stating that the hasselblad lenses were Fujinons is that they might be Hasselblad design, some stuff done by Fuji (but not all) because its cheaper than having Hasselbad people locally doing it, same thing with the H1 camera, assembly is most likely local - stated in an interview with Swedish magazine Foto a few years ago. Very few western countries today do production in their home countries do to high costs.
However, AL and ED designs are important to make more compact and sometimes sharper optics, of course just the name is not worth anything but with modern computer technology the mix of different lenses with different refraction indexes make it much easier to make better and more compact optics with minimal input in the design. The best and sharpest optics is however a combination of good design and minute exactness. This last point is where the best glass is achieved from e.g. Pentax - also quality control.
Cheers,
Ronald
Ronald Arvidsson wrote:
Re: Pentax's sudden infatuation with ED glass.
Frantisek Tue, 05 Apr 2005 02:59:32 -0700
RA> new autofocus H1 series and digital H1D, which are not Carl Zeiss by the
RA> way but Hasselblad lenses, where probably also designed and assembled by
RA> Hasselblad even though a lot of manufacturing is done in Japan.
AFAIK these are Fujinons, made by Fuji (as is the whole H1 camera, and the X-pan film rangefinder). Which is not a bad thing, both are gorgeous cameras with great lenses (just ask any LF shooter about Fujinons).
Today, IMNSHO, "ED" glass is quite a meaningless term. It doesn't say anything about the good or bad of the lens, nor about its aberrations. It doesn't mean the lens is Apochromatic. It doesn't even hint at it. Same with "APO". Also, I have never saw any manufacturer actually disclose what actual index does they mean by e.g. "ED" designation, and how much "extreme" it is compared to "normal" glass.
Pentax was always quite conservative in its lens designations, which was good - but today market terms are more important than actual quality, so they must adapt to the market which asks for lens names longer than the lens barrel itself!!!
Good light! fra
