Re: [OM] E-1 first impressions

[Winsor Crosby]

On Thursday, November 6, 2003, at 02:37  AM, Wayne Harridge wrote:

> > Notice that Can*n 
> > already had 
> > to redesign the mirror action in the 300D to accomodate 
> > optical needs. 
>
> I thought the retrofocus was also necessary so that the light was
> hitting the sensor (almost) square on.  If you put the rear element too
> close to the sensor the angle won't be right.

That is what Olympus said. Hmmmm. Actually Leica has said the same thing. They said that their rangefinder lenses will not work well on an M camera modified for a digital back. Some one told me that the physical location of the rear lens element was unimportant because it can be designed so that parallel rays emerge from a virtual point farther away. Seems like magic to me. But I am an idiot about these things.

The story I heard was that the optical needs acccomodated by the redesign of the 300D mirror were just to adapt an older lens design from their discontinued APS film slr. Waste not, want not. Or marketing is all. Get to the market place first even if it is not the ideal solution. 

Winsor
Long Beach, California
USA