Re: Silly question #483 (was Re: [OM] Telephoto (mirror) lenses)

[Lars Bergquist]

>Ok,
>
>I know what a catadioptric mirror lens is, but what
>(if anything different) is this _solid_ cat. lens that's
>being mentioned?
>
>puzzled
>
>     duncan

A catadioptric lens, to the best of my knowledge, is a lens which is
solid -- the main mirror is the rear surface of the same block of glass
which also is the front of the lens. So 'solid catadioptric' seems to be
a tautology.

The advantage of catadiptric construction is (you guessed it) its
solidity: the lens can take some hard knocks without anything
getting out of alignment. when the first cats appeared in the 
´seventies, the personnellin the manufacturers' stalls at camera
fairs used to shock visitors by purposely dropping their expensive
tele lenses on the floor.



Vänliga hälsningar/Best regards
Lars Bergquist
Välkommen till/Welcome to ...
<http://www.bahnhof.se/~timberwolf/>

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