Iwatani Corp. brightened the outlook for camera fans in October by announcing it had developed the world's first viable technology for synthesizing high-purity fluorite — an element critical to making the world's best lenses.

Lenses in top-flight cameras and telescopes require fluorite to reduce light dispersion, the main cause of the chromatic aberrations and color fringing that plague glass lenses.

The problem is cost: Most of the world's supply of natural fluorite comes from China, which has a lock on the market.