While looking at cameras
on the web, I came across a blatantly false claim by Sony. They wrote about the Sony Alpha SLT cameras:
"This changes
everything.
Shoot with unprecedented
speed and precision thanks to Sony's revolutionary Translucent Mirror
Technology™. While traditional DSLRs depend on a reflex mirror to flip up and
down with every shot, Sony's award-winning technology changes all that with its
fixed-position, translucent mirror design…"
The Sony SLT mirror
That statement is
definitely false. The first camera
incorporating such a design was the Canon Pellix. The Pellix was first marketed in 1965. It was
Canon's first 35mm Focal-Plane Shutter SLR Camera with TTL metering. It was also the first commercial production
SLR that incorporated a fixed pellicle mirror. It employed a super-thin,
semi-transparent film only 20/1000 mm thick that was used as a fixed mirror.
The Leica connection to
all of this is the fact that the Leica Visofelx III was also available with a
pellicle mirror. This was a special
modification by Norman Goldberg.
Goldberg is perhaps best known, in the Leica world, as the creator of
the Camcraft N-5 electric motor drive for the Leica M2 and MP. However, also to
his credit were several other inventions for Leicas and other cameras. The clip
he designed to permit wearing an M Leica on the belt was widely used. He also offered a modification of the
Visoflex reflex housing, involving either a beam splitter or a pellicle mirror.
These too preceded Sony for a long time.
Leica camera with pellicle
mirror Visoflex and Camcraft N-5 electric motor.
Please note the missing
release lever and mirror action adjustment knob on the right side of the
Visoflex
Pellicle mirrors never
reached any nominal success; the main reason being that part of the incoming
light is permanently diverted to the viewfinder, or in the Sony SLT cameras
where part of the light is reflected to the phase detection autofocus
system. This effectively lowers the
speed of the lens in use. In addition,
these mirrors are quite delicate and very difficult to clean. Cleaning, on the other hand, is important
because any dust, smudges or other dirt would adversely affect image quality
since the mirror is in the light path from the lens to the film or sensor.
In view of this it seems
strange that Sony would even market a camera of this type and it is equally
strange that they have to accompany it with obviously false claims.
Another false claim by
Sony, announced that “Sony did it: A7 and A7r are the first modern full frame
mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.”
That claim totally ignores
the Leica M. Just like the Sony A7 and
A7r, the Leica M is a full frame camera and it has interchangeable lenses, with
a whole load of additional features that Sony cannot match. The fact that the Leica M was announced at
the last Photokina in fall of 2012 apparently did not prevent the above claim.
Leica M with Leica Vario-Elmarit-R
70-180 f/2.8
Leica M with Summilux-M
50mm f/1.4
Leica M with
Vario-Elmarit-R 28-90 f/2.8-4.5
Leica M with Canon lens
These certainly is not the
only time camera companies have made obviously false statements. Several years ago Pentax accompanied
advertising for their 50mm f/1.2 lens by stating that is was the first
production lens with an aperture of 1.2, conveniently ignoring the fact that
Leica introduced the 50mm f/1.2 Noctilux many years before in 1966.
Leica 50mm f/1.2 Nictilux, first introduced in 1966
Just this morning I read a
report that Canon applied for a patent for a lens with a lens mount on both
ends. It was heralded as something
entirely new, previously only available with the help of lens reversing
adapters. However, at the Photokina in
1966 Rollei introduced the Rolleifelx SL66 which had that very feature. The front of the lens had a Rolleiflex SL66
lens mount which allowed the lens to be mounted in a reversed position without
the need of any accessories. Canon is
just 50 years late. While this
particular example has no direct connection to Leica, it is another example
where facts sometimes become secondary.
Rolleiflex SL66 with lens in reversed position
___________________________________________________________________________
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment