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Looking out over Manila from my apartment window, I catch a glimpse of the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. I decide that it needs further investigation and walk over in the noon-time heat. Shorts and sandals a pale substitute for imagined empathies of heavy packs carried through unfamiliar and unrelenting jungles.

I arrive. Nothing I've seen previously prepares me for the beauty, sadness and overwhelming graceful composition of the memorial grounds.

With determination and purpose, row upon row of simple white memorials elegantly rise above the perfectly trimmed surface. Lining up at attention with the overhead sun, crosses and stars with weather-worn names from states like Oregon, Wisconsin, Nebraska and New Jersey reach out for my attention … ever hopeful that they won't be forgotten. Or at best, that their sacrifice isn't mislaid. From a distance, the memorials seem to link together solemnly arm-in-arm, warding off all ill intention.

Here there are no political parties, no scandals, no innuendo nor obfuscation. Just an awareness of time that washes over me in waves of reflective silence.

And then I feel it. An understanding. Hope, fear, pain, suffering and the glory of shared experience forever linked in eternal camaraderie. Unsure of the finality of their story, each of 17,206 individuals lays down and becomes a part of something bigger than themselves.

Rest as one boys in your decisive moments so valiantly lived … so that the lot of us can rest in peace.

Kodak announced today that it has sold its Image Sensor Solution division (ISS) to Platinum Equity for an undisclosed amount. Hopefully, under Platinum's new ownership, ISS will continue to produce its excellent sensors, which are used in both the Leica M9 and the Leica S2.

Press release:

ROCHESTER, N.Y., November 07 – Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) announced today that it has completed the sale of its Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) business to Platinum Equity in a move that will sharpen Kodak’s operational focus and strengthen its financial position.

While the financial details were not disclosed, Kodak will have continuing access to the image sensor technology involved in this transaction for use in its own products. Kodak has previously communicated that it would sell assets that are not central to its transformation to a profitable, sustainable digital company. This sale is aligned with that strategy to generate cash to complete the transformation.

Included in the sale is a 263,000 square foot facility in Eastman Business Park in Rochester, N.Y., that houses manufacturing and research facilities.

The ISS business develops, manufactures, and markets the world’s highest performance solid state image sensor devices. Over the past 30 years, Kodak’s image sensors have delivered unrivaled image quality and innovative features for use in a broad range of demanding imaging applications. From precision manufacturing inspection to digital radiography, from earth imaging satellites to traffic monitoring, from the world’s highest performing studio photography cameras to DNA sequencing systems, customers around the world rely on high-performance products from ISS in the most mission-critical applications.

Platinum Equity is a global M&A&O® firm specializing in the merger, acquisition and operation of companies that provide services and solutions to customers in a broad range of business markets.

“Image Sensor Solutions is a business that is well-positioned in the high-performance imaging markets in which it participates,” said Pradeep Jotwani, President, Consumer Digital Imaging Group, and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “This sale maximizes shareholder value by obtaining a full and fair valuation for this business, and allows Kodak to increase its financial flexibility.”
Jotwani noted that Platinum Equity brings significant financial and operational resources to the ISS business and a comprehensive plan to ensure its continued success.

“Platinum Equity is an ideal acquirer of Kodak’s ISS business because they are committed to the success of the business for the benefit of customers and employees,” Jotwani said. “I’m very pleased that we have such a favorable outcome for all of our constituents.”

Platinum Equity focuses on acquiring businesses that can benefit from the firm’s extensive in-house capability and expertise in transition, integration and operations.

“This is a great opportunity to acquire a business with an impressive record for delivering innovative solutions to customers around the world,” said Brian Wall, the partner at Platinum Equity who led the team pursuing the acquisition. “The ISS business has a strong management team with the right vision for leading the company into the future. We share their commitment to product development and customer service and are committed to helping the business realize its full potential.”

Wall said Platinum Equity’s experience managing complex transitions from corporate parent companies will benefit employees, customers and other partners.

“Our operations group will work hand-in-hand with the management team to ensure a seamless transition while allowing the organization to stay focused on delivering world class imaging products and solutions,” said Wall. “We are proud to have forged a unique divestiture solution in partnership with Kodak that serves the best interests of everyone involved.”

At Photo Plus Expo in New York City, Leica introduced the new Elmarit-S 30mm f/2.8 ASPH wide angle lens for the S2. I received a lot of questions as to why Leica would come out with a lens so similar in focal length to the existing and already quite amazing Summarit-S 35mm f/2.5 ASPH. For the Leica S2 Pro Format, a 30mm is equivalent to a 24mm FOV (field of view) on the 135 format. This actually compliments the 35mm Summarit-S quite nicely, which has an equivalent FOV of 28mm. For decades, 24mm and 28mm have been important and distinct wide-angle focal lengths in the Leica stable of lenses. And, when the 24mm f/3.5 lens is released next year, the S-System will have an incredible wide-angle line-up of 19, 24 and 28 equivalent focal lengths.

With this new S lens, Leica had an opportunity to build upon the basic optical design of the 35 and make the changes necessary to widen the angle of view without sacrificing optical quality. This certainly isn’t the first time that Leica optical designers have modified existing designs to other focal lengths. In the M system, this is now the norm. Examples of this can be found in the 18 and 24 Elmar, 50 Lux and 75 APO, 21 and 24 Lux. In order to maintain the same 82mm front diameter, a 1/2 stop slower maximum aperture of f/2.8 was employed.

I had the opportunity to do some quick and dirty test shots with the new Elmarit-S 30mm f/2.8 ASPH lens at Leica’s demo studio. My first casual hand-held shots inside the studio showed that the 30mm was right in line with the other four S lenses quality-wise, which is what I’d expect. So, instead of trying to do extensive testing of the lens itself when time was limited, I decided that it might be interesting to put the 30mm and 35mm head-to-head. This would demonstrate the differences as well as the similarities between these wide-angle brethren.

Handling of the lenses is, for all practical purposes, identical. Their weight, size and balance are pretty much indistinguishable. They even share the exact same lens shade. Looking through the viewfinder, though, it’s clear which is the wider lens.

I ventured out onto the small balcony of the 10th floor studio to get some shots of the city. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a straight-on skyline shot, as the balcony was only on one side of the building – the one with a large building right next-door. So, I used the lovely chain link fence on the balcony’s edge to show variation in perspective and also test the difference in depth of field. I did my best to figure out the hyperfocal distance on the new lens by bracketing my focus from infinity to 1m and selecting the image with the most foreground DOF while retaining crisp details at infinity. And, even though I am familiar with getting the most usable DOF out of the 35, I used the same method in order to have an optimal result for comparison. Both were shot at f/13, which I’ve found to offer the sweet spot for maximizing DOF without losing sharpness to diffraction.

Leica S2 with Elmarit-S 30mm, 1/30th @ f/13, ISO 160, tripod Crop 1 | Crop 2

Leica S2 with Summarit-S 35mm, 1/30th @ f/13, ISO 160, tripod Crop 1 | Crop 2

For the second image, I wanted to show detail from different sections of the image without worrying about carrying DOF. The other end of the balcony offered a view of the Hudson River with a lot of details. Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid that pesky (and ugly) brown pyramidal building next-door from showing up in the lower right hand corner of the images.

Leica S2 with Elmarit-S 30mm, 1/45th @ f/11, ISO 160, tripod Crop 1 | Crop 2 | Crop 3

Leica S2 with Summarit-S 35mm, 1/45th @ f/11, ISO 160, tripod Crop 1 | Crop 2 | Crop 3

Again, the additional coverage of the 30mm shows a larger field of view. Here, I’ve provided a few 100% crops. Crop 1 shows the very lower left corner, Crop 2 shows center left and Crop 3 shows the bottom edge. Both lenses show excellent detail and sharpness across the entire frame.
From what I’ve seen so far, the 30mm doesn’t disappoint. Leica has delivered a one-two punch for the two most commonly used wide angle focal lengths, both stellar lenses in their own rights. When the 24mm starts shipping next year, Leica should have the undisputed best wide-angle lens lineup for medium format. With low distortion, sharpness from center to edge and extremely fast apertures, these lenses push the limits of optical design and demonstrate that Leica knows a thing or two about making great lenses.
The 30mm is now available for pre-order from Dale Photo & Digital at a cost of $7,495. The lens should start shipping by the end of 2011.
Feel free to add to the existing discussion thread in the Forum section, here.