On Thursday, March 14, 2002, at 11:34 AM, T Rittenhouse wrote: > AL, a molded plastic non-spherical element, instead of several glass > elements. A cheaper way to build a lens.
Not entirely -- 1) the element does not have to be plastic (though often it is) 2) AL elements can be used to minimize distortion far more efficiently than a series of traditional elements, resulting in a sharper, brighter lens with less distortion 3) I don't know that AL elements are any cheaper -- if they were, wouldn't Vivitar's cheapass 28mm prime be an AL lens? -Aaron - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
