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A comment on Euclid's First Images. Parent comment

Re:Euclid's First Images by dylan604 on Tuesday November 07, 2023 @10:40PM (#38186471)
That's like asking why a Ferrari costs so much, it's just a car. There's a big difference from a mass produced car with automated processes compared to a product that is pretty much one offs and are made by hand. Pretty much every industry has the equivalent mass produced vs hand made. Leica makes camera lenses for the masses, but they also have a very expensive line of lenses that they only start the hand made process when you're check clears. Clothing, homes, etc all have versions of it.

So unless you can tell me that you've hand ground a telescope mirror of any size to have direct knowledge of the experience, I'd suggest taking a look at the process while considering the size of the mirror discussed. Even the base and the trusses for the assembly will have required design time and iterating through changes. Not sure why this seems so strange compared to all of the other things in life with "accepted" price tags.

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Re:Euclid's First Images by baq on Wednesday November 08, 2023 @04:55AM (#38188434)
Spot on, for a concrete example check this one out - there's a slight chance these are mass produced

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/rf1200mm-f8-l-is-usm-lens

but the f5.6 version... doesn't seem to be:

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-1200mm-...

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Re:Euclid's First Images by dylan604 on Wednesday November 08, 2023 @10:11AM (#38191459)
>https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/rf1200mm-f8-l-is-usm-lens

"Minimum focus distance of Approx. 14.1 ft. / 4.3 m. "

Which is conveniently able to be measured by taking the distance from the camera mount to the end of the lens, then doubling it! However, at least this is "affordable" enough to have a price listed. The Leica lenses I was referring to has the "oh boy, this is going to be expensive" infamous Find a Dealer button. Also, it's a set of 11 lenses, and for nearly double the price, they add in a few more wide angles and a few more telephoto lenses to the kit.

https://www.leitz-cine.com/product/summicron-c

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Re:Euclid's First Images by gosub100 on Wednesday November 08, 2023 @07:53AM (#38189723)
Your answer is basically "it's expensive because other high end things are expensive, too!". Thats not what the GP was asking. Also a Ferrari is a bizarre comparison. Telescope has about 10 or less moving parts. Ferrari has hundreds, maybe thousands.

A real answer to this would be to break it down by materials vs labor. Not shaming them for being curious and then saying it's high end.

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Re:Euclid's First Images by dylan604 on Wednesday November 08, 2023 @09:14AM (#38190543)
If you think a telescope has 10 or less moving parts, you don’t know what your talking about.
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