Thanks Konrad for the exceptional overview of primary references. A
cynic might say it paints a picture of marketing departments among the
various worldwide Olympus distributors which got more and more lazy with
regards to attention to detail, as well as a lack of information out of
Tokyo, too. (This is most certainly not the only case). It might also
have been an engineering/marketing see-saw over what was acceptable
versus non-acceptable performance for the 1.4X-A combinations. One
should consider that the generic lens makers (e.g., Tamron)/marketing
companies (e.g., Vivitar) were putting out 1.4 and 1.5X converters and
the general buying public was getting lenses with performance standards
that exceeded their ability to use to the fullest. So, while an
engineer might say it wasn't a suitable combination, users were already
accepting that level of performance or worse with generics. A situation
marketing would jump on.
This would appear to be a situation needing clarification from the
engineers themselves. Or better, a comparison film-based test by someone
with a 1.4X-A and both a <200,000 and >200,000 serial numbered 180mm
f/2.8 I ran out of film before I could answer this question.
I have some unfortunately incomplete notes suggesting a coating change
in the 1.4X-A itself, at the 102,000 break. I don't know why I wrote it,
though.
http://www.zuikoholic.com/lenscoatings.txt
doesn't cover teleconverters, but I suspect at least a coating change in
the 2X-A.
Finally, the very first reference I know of to a 180mm f/2.0 was in
Petersen's Photographic magazine (USA), May 1985. They had to have had
one in hand at least 4 months prior. There were prototypes of the 250mm
f/2 and 350mm f/2.8 in field use in March 1983, as per the Olympus OM
System Lens Handbook's section on the Japanese photographers who
traveled across the USA with an ansenal of Zuiko lenses. They didn't
have a 180mm f/2.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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