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On 5-May-2004, (Eric) wrote:

Dan wrote:

Optical lens design is a mature technology.

Ah...'everything that can be invented, has been invented'.
Sorry, will never believe that...

Dan is essentially correct. There was a big revolution in lens
design when computers suddenly became cheap enough to allow lens
designers to crunch through lots of lens optimization to produce
a good lens. Before that, designing by hand was hit or miss.

Another big improvement was the use of computer controlled machinery
to produce quality aspheric lenses cheaply.

Incremental improvement in glass will let us creep along with better
lenses. If there's going to be a revolution in lens design, it will
have to be the result of some awesome new material. Working with
existing materials and just running computer programs has pretty
much run its course.

Significant improvements in lens design technology itself? - not
likely!

Mike