goamules
24-Dec-2014, 09:29
On the internet, and especially Facebook, people occasionally ask why a particular lens isn't remanufactured. I'm not going to even address the extremely limited demand in LF, but I know Fuji and others continually release "new" lenses for small digital cameras. Many are very fast, and well corrected.
I've often read here and elsewhere that "all lens design patents are long expired." I've even read recently someone stated "you cannot patent a lens design" or some such, which I don't believe. I'm sure if Fuji is doing anything slightly novel, they'll be protecting it.
Today I stumbled on this patent (https://www.google.com/patents/US8169717), for a: "Large aperture optical systems that are extremely well corrected over a large flat field and over a large spectral range are disclosed. Breathing and aberration variation during focusing are optionally controlled by moving at least two groups of lens elements independently. Aberration correction in general is aided by allowing the working distance to become short relative to the format diagonal. Field curvature is largely corrected by a steeply curved concave surface relatively close to the image plane. This allows the main collective elements to be made of low-index anomalous dispersion materials in order to correct secondary spectrum."
It is the longest patent I've ever read, with more drawings. He seems to be "covering" everything in lens design, down to soft focus, "It is also desirable for cinematographic and general photographic objectives to have a variable soft focus feature so that a wide variety of special effects can be achieved. This is especially true of cinematographic objectives with a focal length of about 50 mm and longer, which are frequently used for close-up headshots and the like. The best method of introducing a soft focus is to vary the amount of spherical aberration in a controlled manner by an axial adjustment of one or more lens elements. " (A la Dallmeyer, Cooke, Wollensak, et al).
What, exactly is this guy patenting?! And why did the Patent Office give it to him? I didn't think you could patent unless it was a novel, new invention. He seems to be writing a lens history, then saying, "Mine!" He talks about "the invention..." numerous times, without saying WHAT the invention is! Just references all the lens design patents going back to 1933, and gives pages of history on each design. He started with a provisional patent in 2008, then now keeps "updating" it or something. I'm no Patent expert. But I think I'll go give the history of the reciprocating engine, and then patent every car motor ever made!
I've often read here and elsewhere that "all lens design patents are long expired." I've even read recently someone stated "you cannot patent a lens design" or some such, which I don't believe. I'm sure if Fuji is doing anything slightly novel, they'll be protecting it.
Today I stumbled on this patent (https://www.google.com/patents/US8169717), for a: "Large aperture optical systems that are extremely well corrected over a large flat field and over a large spectral range are disclosed. Breathing and aberration variation during focusing are optionally controlled by moving at least two groups of lens elements independently. Aberration correction in general is aided by allowing the working distance to become short relative to the format diagonal. Field curvature is largely corrected by a steeply curved concave surface relatively close to the image plane. This allows the main collective elements to be made of low-index anomalous dispersion materials in order to correct secondary spectrum."
It is the longest patent I've ever read, with more drawings. He seems to be "covering" everything in lens design, down to soft focus, "It is also desirable for cinematographic and general photographic objectives to have a variable soft focus feature so that a wide variety of special effects can be achieved. This is especially true of cinematographic objectives with a focal length of about 50 mm and longer, which are frequently used for close-up headshots and the like. The best method of introducing a soft focus is to vary the amount of spherical aberration in a controlled manner by an axial adjustment of one or more lens elements. " (A la Dallmeyer, Cooke, Wollensak, et al).
What, exactly is this guy patenting?! And why did the Patent Office give it to him? I didn't think you could patent unless it was a novel, new invention. He seems to be writing a lens history, then saying, "Mine!" He talks about "the invention..." numerous times, without saying WHAT the invention is! Just references all the lens design patents going back to 1933, and gives pages of history on each design. He started with a provisional patent in 2008, then now keeps "updating" it or something. I'm no Patent expert. But I think I'll go give the history of the reciprocating engine, and then patent every car motor ever made!