Much has been said about modern vs. older (are the seventies really older?)
lens design. I might be inclined to reply, but of course, if you consider
plastic lenses and barrels improved, but, of course, I won't.
Lets look at where lens developments have gone in the past ten or twenty
years. Two major trends are evident: zoom lenses used exclusively, and
autofocus. Both trends are supported by computer aided design.
A computer won't design a better lens as such, just speed up the process.
The computer does basically the same thing the earlier designer did, it just
makes the many, complex calculations faster. This allows the designer to try
out more possibilities, which gets a better lens only if the cut and try
part of lens design is taken to a higher level, given the additional time
available. I would imagine that the design of a lens like our generally well
regarded 135/2.8 took quite a bit of time in the engineering department,
whereas with the computer, it might well be done in an afternoon. Something
like the 21/2, a design tour de force when introduced, could be designed
quite easily today. A designer in the sixties or seventies could have done
remarkable things, with the advances in aspherical lenses, had he been given
lots of time.
In the last ten years, almost no prime lenses have been introduced by the
big three camera manufacturers, outside of a few focal lengths at eash
extreme, or lenses for special uses. The nitty gritty of lens design has
been applied to complex zooms, with their many elements, lenses that would
have taken years, if not decades, to design, using the old manual methods.
As to autofocus, none of the money has gone to improve the optical quality
of the lenses, just to make them lighter, and focus in different ways to
support the mechanisms. Anyone who thinks that even the f2.8 autofocus
Nikkors can equal the primes they replaced at the same expenditure is sadly
mistaken.
I did a very rough comparison of my Zuikos with some Contax G2 lenses last
summer. I discovered no advantage to the newer lenses, with slides projected
to an about 60" square screen.
Finally, we need to remember that many of the great photos we hold in high
regard were shot with very old, single coated lenses.
Bill Pearce
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