On 11/20/01 9:39 AM, "William Clark" <wclark@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> The recent posts regarding OM lenses on digital cameras has been great.
> Some commented that the OM system is dead, which it probably is. This got
> me to thinking about lenses. I sold my 65-116 to a list member last week
> and a bunch of other stuff to a local dealer. I bought a Nik*n 60 f2.8
> macro lens for my AF system. Why? The lens blows away anything OM has to
> offer (really it does). While I do believe that a lot of today's lenses are
> far better than OM lenses (better technology, etc.), I do have a problem
> with some of them. The new motorized (AFS, HSM) ones have me troubled. I
> have used them (borrowed) and man are they fun and fast to AF focus!!!!
> However, what do you think their reliability is? With more stuff in the
> lens, there is so much more to go wrong. In addition, they are hugely
> expensive to fix (I pity my friends who have had to get them fixed). With
> OM lenses lasting as long as they have (mine are in super shape), does
> anyone think the newer computer/motor/gizmo lenses with fair as well?
>
> -Bill
>
Mechanically/electronically , the newer lenses are probably much harder to
repair and will probably not be economically repairable in the future
(especially for things like circuit board replacement). Another question
though is obsolescence. With the OM system, at least you're already using
"obsolete" lenses (manual focus) but if you accept that then you're fine. If
you want the latest and greatest, then you end up replacing gear a lot more
frequently because newer stuff is out. For Canon, that 70-200/2.8L you
bought a few years ago is already replaced with the 70-200/2.8L IS, and
that'll probably be replaced in a few more years. On the Nikon side, they've
kept the same mechanical F mount for some time with additional kludges added
on. At some point, they're probably going to want to switch to an all
electronic mount. Canon has already bit that bullet but Nikon is holding out
still. But at some point the change will likely need to be made. I think
these problems are a lot bigger than the long term reliability of the
lenses, something else will make you replace the lens before then.
--
Andrew "Frugal" Dacey
frugal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.tildefrugal.net/
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