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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kevin Purcell" data-source="post: 1354297" data-attributes="member: 68323">A (manufacturing) breakthrough: that already happened with the Chinese EDs this year.Using inexpensive but high quality ED glass objectives, LaK lenses in the eyepeices, latest optical design software, improved and new coatings (including hydrophobic and lipophobic coatings), with improved manufacturing techniques (for accurate assembly) and (potentially) aspherical lenses.Chinese labour doesn't have a lot to do with robot assembly of most bins today. The humans are doing the other design, marketing and manufacturing tasks (i.e. moving stuff around and checking things).Combined with better processes this is pushing the costs down. The Chinese have the incentive to do this. The Euro makers ... no so much <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />The Europeans have already gone down this route of figuring out how to make excellent bins in the 1990s and now perhaps put more effort into making more ergonomic bins as they can already do the rest of a regular basis (and for a price).There are no "breakthoughs" left to be made: making optics is understood. But making better optics inexpesice more reliable and more easy to use are where the remaining challenges lie. That's a challenge for the Chinese in the next decade or so -- the current Chinese ED bins are functional but not amazing in this department.OK, perhaps one "breakthrough" (though it's already been done) is inexpensive IS bins. After they get top end bins sorted we might start to see this but a lot of the technology is still protected by patent so we may have to wait until those patents expire.</blockquote>

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