Originally posted by ivanvernon I think the Arsat 30 is one of the best medium format bargains around. I see the Hasselblad 30mm fisheye listed on eBay for between $1,500 and $3,500, and some reviewers have suggested that the Arsat is about 90 percent as good as the Hasselblad. I think the Hassy and the Arsat both have Carl Zeiss origins but I do not know the optical formulae or other similarities/differences between the two lenses.
With modern computer-aided optics design programs, it is relatively straightforward for one skilled in the art (not me but several people I've worked with in the past) to generate a lens design that has the properties one wants. The difficulty comes in successfully tolerancing such a design (or any of several candidate designs) so that economical mass production can be performed. Economical mass production means straightforward assembly of within-tolerance components without complex adjustments while retaining the desired optical properties.
I remain amazed that prices for new camera lens assemblies, no matter how far their prices may be from affordability for me, are as low as they are. The 645 FA 35 mm, for example, apparently lists in the $1600 region, and looks like this with 10 elements, with many surfaces AR coated. And please note that while a set of identical lenses can be AR coated together, each different index material lens has to have its own tailored (bespoke) coating formula.