The new Zuikos have dual-sided aspheric elements??? cool!
Also, auto light fall off and barrel distortion compensation IN-CAMERA!!
;-)
Albert
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E1/E1A5.HTM
Actually, Olympus has done a number of things in the design of their
lenses for the Four Thirds system to improve image quality. To call
attention to the extent of these design improvements, they've branded
them as "Zuiko Digital (tm)" lenses. (I'm told that Zuiko means "Light
of the Gods," presumably in Japanese.) In addition to the special
"digital specific" design described above, Zuiko Digital lenses also
incorporate improvements in lens molding and polishing accuracy,
multi-coating, centering of the lens elements within the mounting
system, increased use of ED glass and aspheric elements, and dual-sided
aspheric elements, the latter of which Olympus claims as an industry
exclusive. The actual impact of these enhancements remains to be seen
(whenever I can test production models of both camera and lens), but the
promise is that Zuiko Digital lenses will have better resolution, color
rendering, and flare characteristics than even the best conventional
designs. (The 14-54mm lens that shipped with my prototype sample of the
E1 indeed seemed to show very little distortion or chromatic aberration,
particularly for a prototype-model lens.)
As I noted in the overview section of this review, Zuiko Digital lenses
also support a greater degree of communication between lens and camera
than has heretofore been the case, with some interesting consequences.
Olympus claims that part of this increased communication will benefit
autofocus speed and exposure determination, although they haven't yet
said how this will work. It does appear though, that Zuiko Digital
lenses pass information about their optical characteristics to the
camera body, including information on geometric distortion. I first
thought that the use of this information would be limited to storing it
in the file's EXIF headers, facilitating automated correction of barrel
and pincushion distortion post-exposure, on a host computer. It appears
that the real story is quite a bit more dramatic though: The camera
itself can perform these corrections, and apparently does so
automatically. (This probably explains why I saw essentially zero barrel
or pincushion distortion from the 14-54mm zoom that shipped with my
evaluation unit.)
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|