The design of photographic lenses for use in still or cine cameras is intended to produce a lens that yields the most acceptable rendition of the subject being photographed within a range of constraints that include cost, weight and materials. For many other optical devices such as telescopes, microscopes and theodolites where the visual image is observed but often not recorded the design can often be significantly simpler than is the case in a camera where every image is captured on film or image sensor and can be subject to detailed scrutiny at a later stage. Photographic lenses also include those used in enlargers and projectors.

Design

Lens elements

Elements of an inexpensive 28mm lens

Photographic lens cut for demonstration

Main article: Lens (optics)

Except for the most simple and inexpensive lenses, each complete lens is made up from a number of separate lens elements arranged along a common axis. The use of many lens elements serves to minimise aberrations and to provide a sharp image free from visible distortions. To do this requires lens elements of different compositions and different shapes. To minimise chromatic aberrations, e.g., in which different wavelengths of light are refracted to different degrees, requires, at a minimum, a doublet of lens elements with a positive element having a high Abbe number matched with a negative element of lower Abbe number. With this design one can achieve a good degree of convergence of different wavelengths in the visible spectrum. Most lens designs do not attempt to bring infrared wavelengths to the same common focus and it is therefore necessary to manually alter the focus when photographing in infrared light. Other kinds of aberrations such as coma or astigmatism can also be minimized by careful choice of curvature of the lens faces for all the component elements. Complex photographic lenses can consist of more than 15 lens elements.

Most lens elements are made with curved surfaces with a spherical profile. That is, the curved shape would fit on the surface of a sphere. This is partly to do with the history of lens making but also because grinding and manufacturing of spherical surface lenses is relatively simple and cheap. However, spherical surfaces also give rise to lens aberrations and can lead to complicated lens designs of great size. Higher-quality lenses with fewer elements and lower size can be achieved by using aspheric lenses in which the curved surfaces are not spherical, giving more degrees of freedom to correct aberrations.

Lens glass

Main article: Refraction

The majority of photographic lenses have the lens elements made from glass although the use of high-quality plastics is becoming more common in high-quality lenses and has been common in inexpensive cameras for some time. The design of photographic lenses is very demanding as designers push the limits of existing materials to make more versatile, better-quality, and lighter lenses. As a consequence many exotic glasses have been used in modern lens manufacturing. Caesium^[1] and lanthanum^[2] glass lenses are now in use because of their high refractive index and very low dispersion properties. It is also likely that a number of other transition element glasses are in use but manufacturers often prefer to keep their material specification secret to retain a commercial or performance edge over competitors.

Types of lenses

Example of a prime lens - Carl Zeiss Tessar.

The type of lens being designed is significant in setting the key parameters.

• Prime lens - a photographic lens whose focal length is fixed, as opposed to a zoom lens, or that is the primary lens in a combination lens system.
• Zoom lenses - variable focal length lenses. Zoom lenses cover a range of focal lengths by utilising movable elements within the barrel of the lens assembly. In early varifocal lens lenses, the focus also shifted as the lens focal length was changed. Varifocal lenses are also used in many modern autofocus cameras as the lenses are cheaper and simpler to construct and the autofocus can take care of the re-focussing requirements. Many modern zoom lenses are now confocal, meaning that the focus is maintained throughout the zoom range. Because of the need to operate over a range of focal lengths and maintain confocality, zoom lenses typically have very many lens elements. More significantly, the front elements of the lens will always be a compromise in terms of its size, light-gathering capability and the angle of incidence of the incoming rays of light. For all these reasons, the optical performance of zoom lenses tends to be lower than fixed-focal-length lenses.
• Normal lens - a lens with a focal length about equal to the diagonal size of the film or sensor format, or that reproduces perspective that generally looks "normal" to a human observer.

Cross-section of a typical short-focus wide-angle lens.

• Wide angle lens - a lens that reproduces perspective that generally looks "wider" than a normal lens. The problem posed by the design of wide-angle lenses is to bring to an accurate focus light from a wide area without causing internal flare. Wide-angle lenses therefore tend to have more elements than a normal lens to help refract the light sufficiently and still minimise aberrations whilst adding light-trapping baffles between each lens element.

Cross-section of a typical retrofocus wide-angle lens.

• Extreme or ultra-wide-angle lens - a wide-angle lens with an angle of view above 90 degrees.^[4] Extreme-wide-angle lenses share the same issues as ordinary wide-angle lenses but the focal length of such lenses may be so short that there is insufficient physical space in front of the film or sensor plane to construct a lens. This problem is resolved by constructing the lens as an inverted telephoto, or retrofocus with the front element having a very short focal length, often with a highly exaggerated convex front surface and behind it a strongly negative lens grouping that extends the cone of focused rays so that they can be brought to focus at a reasonable distance.

Cross-section - typical telephoto lens.
L1 - Tele positive lens group
L2 - Tele negative lens group
D - Diaphragm

• Fisheye lens - an extreme wide-angle lens with a strongly convex front element. Spherical aberration is usually pronounced and sometimes enhanced for special effect. Optically designed as a reverse telephoto to enable the lens to fit into a standard mount as the focal length can be less than the distance from lens mount to focal plane.
• Long-focus lens - a lens with a focal length greater than the diagonal of the film frame or sensor. Long focus lenses are relatively simple to design, the challenges being comparable to the design of a prime lens. However, as the focal length increases the length of the lens and the size of the objective increase in size and length and weight quickly become significant design issues in retaining utility and practicality for the lens in use. In addition because the light path through the lens is long and glancing, the importance of baffles to control flare increases in importance.
• Telephoto lens - an optically compressed version of the long-focus lens. The design of telephoto lenses reduces some of the problems encountered by designers of long-focus lenses. In particular, telephoto lenses are typically much shorter and may be lighter for equivalent focal length and aperture. However telephoto designs increase the number of lens elements and can introduce flare and exacerbate some optical aberrations.
• Catadioptric lens - catadioptric lenses are a form of telephoto lens but with a light path that doubles back on itself and with an objective that is a mirror combined with some form of aberration correcting lens (a catadioptric system) rather than just a lens. A centrally-placed secondary mirror and usually an additional small lens group bring the light to focus. Such lenses are very lightweight and can easily deliver very long focal lengths but they can only deliver a fixed aperture and have none of the benefits of being able to stop down the aperture to increase depth of field.
• Anamorphic lenses are used principally in cinematography to produce wide-screen films where the projected image has a substantially different ratio of height to width than the image recorded on the film plane. This is achieved by the use of a specialised lens design which compresses the image laterally at the recording stage and the film is then projected through a similar lens in the cinema to recreate the wide-screen effect. Although in some cases the anamorphic effect is achieved by using an anamorphising attachment as a supplementary element on the front of a normal lens, most films shot in anamorphic formats use specially designed anamorphic lenses, such as the Hawk lenses made by Vantage Film or Panavision's anamorphic lenses. These lenses incorporate one or more aspheric elements in their design.
• Periscope lens - uses a prism or mirror to redirect the light through the lenses with a 90° angle to the optical axis, like the half of a periscope.^[5][6][7]

History

Diagram of Petzval's 1841 portrait lens - crown glass shaded pink, flint glass shaded blue

The lenses of the very earliest cameras were simple meniscus or simple bi convex lenses. It was not until 1840 that Chevalier in France introduced the achromatic lens formed by cementing a crown glass bi-convex lens to a flint glass plano-concave lens. By 1841 Voigtländer using the design of Joseph Petzval manufactured the first commercially successful two element lens.

Carl Zeiss was an entrepreneur who needed a competent designer to take his firm beyond just another optical workshop. In 1866, the service of Dr Ernst Abbe was enlisted. From then on novel products appeared in rapid succession which brought the Zeiss company to the forefront of optical technology.

Abbe was instrumental in the development of the famous Jena optical glass. When he was trying to eliminate astigmatism from microscopes, he realised that the range of optical glasses available was insufficient. After some calculations, he realised that performance of optical instruments would dramatically improve, if optical glasses of appropriate properties were available. His challenge to glass manufacturers was finally answered by Dr Otto Schott, who established the famous glassworks at Jena from which new types of optical glass began to appear from 1888, and employed by Zeiss and other makers.

The new Jena optical glass also opened up the possibility of increased performance of photographic lenses. The first use of Jena glass in a photographic lens was by Voigtländer, but as the lens was an old design its performance was not greatly improved. Subsequently, the new glasses would demonstrate their value in correcting astigmatism, and in the production of achromatic and apochromatic lenses. Abbé started the design of a photographic lens of symmetrical design with five elements, but went no further.

Zeiss' innovative photographic lens design was due to Dr Paul Rudolph. In 1890, Rudolph designed an asymmetrical lens with a cemented group at each side of the diaphragm, and appropriately named "Anastigmat". This lens was made in three series: Series III, IV and V, with maximum apertures of f/7.2, f/12.5, and f/18 respectively. In 1891, Series I, II and IIIa appeared with respective maximum apertures of f/4.5, f/6.3, and f/9 and in 1893 came Series IIa of f/8 maximum aperture. These lenses are now better known by the trademark "Protar" which was first used in 1900.

At the time, single combination lenses, which occupy one side of the diaphragm only, were still popular. Rudolph designed one with three cemented elements in 1893, with the option of fitting two of them together in a lens barrel as a compound lens, but it was found to be the same as the Dagor by C.P. Goerz, designed by Emil von Höegh. Rudolph then came up with a single combination with four cemented elements, which can be considered as having all the elements of the Protar stuck together in one piece. Marketed in 1894, it was called the Protarlinse Series VII, the most highly corrected single combination lens with maximum apertures between f/11 and f/12.5, depending on its focal length.

But the important thing about this Protarlinse is that two of these lens units can be mounted in the same lens barrel to form a compound lens of even greater performance and larger aperture, between f/6.3 and f/7.7. In this configuration it was called the Double Protar Series VIIa. An immense range of focal lengths can thus be obtained by the various combination of Protarlinse units.

Rudolph also investigated the Double-Gauss concept of a symmetrical design with thin positive menisci enclosing negative elements. The result was the Planar Series Ia of 1896, with maximum apertures up to f/3.5, one of the fastest lenses of its time. Whilst it was very sharp, it suffered from coma which limited its popularity. However, further developments of this configuration made it the design of choice for high-speed lenses of standard coverage.

Probably inspired by the Stigmatic lenses designed by Hugh Aldis for Dallmeyer of London, Rudolph designed a new asymmetrical lens with four thin elements, the Unar Series Ib, with apertures up to f/4.5. Due to its high speed it was used extensively on hand cameras.

The most important Zeiss lens by Rudolph was the Tessar, first sold in 1902 in its Series IIb f/6.3 form. It can be said as a combination of the front half of the Unar with the rear half of the Protar. This proved to be a most valuable and flexible design, with tremendous development potential. Its maximum aperture was increased to f/4.7 in 1917, and reached f/2.7 in 1930. It is probable that every lens manufacturer has produced lenses of the Tessar configuration.

Rudolph left Zeiss after the First World War, but many other competent designers such as Merté, Wandersleb, etc. kept the firm at the leading edge of photographic lens innovations. One of the most significant designer was the ex-Ernemann man Dr Ludwig Bertele, famed for his Ernostar high-speed lens.

With the advent of the Contax by Zeiss-Ikon, the first serious challenge to the Leica in the field of professional 35 mm cameras, both Zeiss-Ikon and Carl Zeiss decided to beat the Leica in every possible way. Bertele's Sonnar series of lenses designed for the Contax were the match in every respect for the Leica for at least two decades. Other lenses for the Contax included the Biotar, Biogon, Orthometar, and various Tessars and Triotars.

The last important Zeiss innovation before the Second World War was the technique of applying anti-reflective coating to lens surfaces invented by Olexander Smakula in 1935.^[8] A lens so treated was marked with a red "T", short for "Transparent". The technique of applying multiple layers of coating was also described in the original patent writings in 1935.^[9]

After the partitioning of Germany, a new Carl Zeiss optical company was established in Oberkochen, while the original Zeiss firm in Jena continued to operate. At first both firms produced very similar lines of products, and extensively cooperated in product-sharing, but they drifted apart as time progressed. Jena's new direction was to concentrate on developing lenses for the 35 mm single-lens reflex camera, and many achievements were made, especially in ultra-wide angle designs. In addition to that, Oberkochen also worked on designing lenses for large format cameras, interchangeable front element lenses such as for the 35 mm single-lens reflex Contaflex, and other types of cameras.

Since the beginning of Zeiss as a photographic lens manufacturer, it has had a licensing programme which allows other manufacturers to produce its lenses. Over the years its licensees included Voigtländer, Bausch & Lomb, Ross, Koristka, Krauss, Kodak. etc. In the 1970s, the western operation of Zeiss-Ikon got together with Yashica to produce the new Contax cameras, and many of the Zeiss lenses for this camera, among others, were produced by Yashica's optical arm, Tomioka. Yashica's owner Kyocera ended camera production in 2006. Yashica lenses were then made by Cosina, who also manufactured most of the new Zeiss designs for the new Zeiss Ikon coupled rangefinder camera. Another licensee active today is Sony who uses the Zeiss name on lenses on its video and digital still cameras.

See also

• Camera lens

References