The good doctor may come across as a little abrasive here (no offnce intended Don), but I agree with what he says. Surely there is very little focal lengths not already covered unless you want to get extremely precise down to fractions of millimetres, or want something not practical like a 4mm rectilinear or a 5000mm F1.8!
Do you want the lens to be of any quality? If you do then you have to think of HUNDREDS of thousands rather than tens for the design, testing and refinement of different optical designs. If you just want them to slap a couple of random elements in modified gearing to give you the length you want then perhaps your price is closer, but I wouldn't want to be judged by the results. Many have asked what you are after, and perhaps if you would tell us (please, please tell us) it would make more sense. By not doing so, you make your request sound slightly absurd. > -----Original Message----- > From: Dr E D F Williams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: 20 November 2002 10:11 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Lens manufacturers > > > To even suggest having a custom lens made is, to be polite, > uninformed. All the usable configurations are already > available. Just go out and buy what you want - and a camera > to go with it. If you need a special lens - say of 31.3 mm or > 123.7 mm focal length that is not available - please let us > know the reason. > > Once I needed flats for the optical bench in my institute. > They had to be of a specific size - about 60 mm square. I had > them made in Germany. They cost an average of $1250 dollars > each and were coated (30~70 layers) to reflect 99%, 75% and > 50% of the HeNe laser wavelength. A single lens element would > cost ten to twenty times as much and a lens has many. And > what about optical design? The computer time? The design and > tooling or adaptation of existing mechanical parts? > > Of course if you are as rich as J Paul Getty or Mr Gates none > of this matters. Buy the Pentax factory and have them make > your lens. Get them to make a camera to go with your lens and > while you're at it what about some new models based on the > features we should all like to have in our 35 mm Pentaxes? I, > for one, would like to program my cameras by voice; tell it > what I want and let the camera get on with the job. > > Don > > Dr E D F Williams > http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery Updated: March 30, 2002 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herb Chong" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 10:53 AM Subject: Re: Lens manufacturers > Message text written by INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Why not do it with my available bodies that I am familiar with? > > Kind regards > Kevin< > > because it will be a lot cheaper to buy a complete new camera system > of some other brand. we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars > for a one off worth using. > > Herb.... > >
