Friday, March 30, 2007

Making Canon lenses


If you liked the Making Lenses video, you'll like this one from Canon. For somebody like me who likes high technology and optics, it's keeeewl.

You get an appreciation for why a good lens costs good money.
And for how much modern life is built upon human cooperation. A thing like a modern camera is based at least tens of thousands of inventions which have happened over hundreds of years, and on a planetary society building up industries which then come together.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

the tilt furnance pouring the metal into the mold resembles ours at work.
the average temp of the aluminum is 1500 degrees while the aluminum bronze runs between 18 and 2000 degrees, flaming orange color.
i've poured the bronze before, i had to wear long sleeves even in the summertime because the heat was so intense.

laurie said...

i'm not technical but the image of that cauldron is mesmerizing.

it mirrors the purifying process of Wisdom's furnace.

the lens that comes out of that is costly indeed

Anonymous said...

Yep, that invisible infrared heat radiation can really burn.

There's an interesting example in the russian epic Michael Strogoff. And very well used in the scenario, too.