Getting rid of drudgery is a good way of reinvigorating people's interest in any subject. Just as the introduction of the frost-free freezer and the automatic tyre chains made all the difference to winter comfort in Canada in the 60's, so the new developments in the pipeline at Leica are pretty sure to capture people's imagination. The one that I want to see is scheduled for release just at the end of March or the start of April - the self-cleaning lens.
We've all had that sinking feeling when we've looked at the DSLR or mirror-less camera lens selection in our camera bag and discovered that they are coated with grease, oil, and baked-on food scraps. Even the most lackadaisical photographer will eventually have to admit that putting pieces of fried chicken or glazed doughnuts into the camera bag along with the optics is going to lead to a build-up. Sweet and sour sauce on the polarizing filters is even worse. Eventually you have to do something about it.
And none of us likes to spend a morning with a can of caustic soda spray and a wire brush cleaning the lenses.
So here's three cheers to the new self-cleaning lenses on track for development at Wetzlar. It's not known exactly which models of the Leica lenses will be re-designed for this new feature, but we've gotten a sneak peek at two of the mirror-less lenses undergoing operational trials. These are seen at the peak of the self-cleaning cycle. They are placed in the special cleaning cradle and an infundibular voltage is applied over the flux capacitor, causing them to pulsate between room temperature and 1500º Celsius. All contaminants are either vaporized or carbonized and fall off readily.
Occasionally a lens element melts and runs out of the bottom of the assembly, but this problem is being addressed in the Mk II version of the cradle. There will be proper safety interlocks in the consumer version of the lenses to prevent photographers removing them from the cradles before they have fully cooled - EEC regulations are strict on this sort of thing.
This columnist is in close contact with the development team and will be posting the latest results as they become available.
Looks like Leica have another winner.
