Interview with engineers

https://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1293088.html

https://www.sulasula.com/en/olympus-150-400mm-4-5-tc-in-costa-rica/

Interesting IR interview, one among last interviews with Olympus engineers

DE: Weight reduction was apparently a huge focus of yours, and you used both magnesium alloy in the barrel and carbon fiber in the hood. How much did carbon fiber reduce the weight of the hood over conventional material? Also, mag alloy is lighter than aluminum, but I think it's stiffer as well. Did using mag alloy permit any fundamental differences in the mechanical design, or was it just a matter of shaving off grams due to the difference in weight? (I thought it was probably just a matter of the alloy being lighter, but it also occurred to me to wonder if the stiffer material might allow things like thinner cross-sections and tighter spacing between some components as well.)

OM: One of the necessary characteristics of the lens hood is the resistance to breakage, which is a combination of the weight of the product itself, the external force being applied and the rigidity to prevent deflection when supported by hand. From this point of view, carbon fiber with its high specific strength and rigidity was selected as the best material for this product.

Compared to other materials with the same strength and rigidity, this product is more than 200 grams lighter, making it extremely light even with the hood attached, to enhance mobility. (Wow, 200 grams of weight savings just in the hood!)

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2021/03/04/a-deep-technical-dive-on-the-amazing-olympus-150-400mm-super-tele-zoom

https://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/minirepo/1343263.html