BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Binastro" data-source="post: 3254545" data-attributes="member: 111403">. In the automotive industry it is the switch to aluminium, for instance in the Jaguar, that brings great weight savings. Earlier it was not possible to construct cars properly with aluminium, but new processes make this possible nowadays.Being lighter weight the performance and economy is much better.Even in the 1950s, aircraft cameras such as the F 95 used aluminium and in fact the factory were able to weld this material. These lightweight cameras were sold for decades worldwide.Also, the three cylinder engine, 1 L, in the Ford Fiesta is quite amazing as regards fuel consumption and power.These are real improvements as time progresses.Sure, there are fine old binoculars but there are also very good new binoculars.With Minolta lenses, when they went over to using plastics instead of metal and new coatings, traditionalists thought that the older lenses were better. They may have been tougher, but the performance of the new lenses was indeed better.In some ways the peak of optics was reached 60 years ago, in other ways not.</blockquote>