Zeiss
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Carl Zeiss |
The
Carl Zeiss company is a
German manufacturer of
optical systems, industrial measurements and medical devices originally founded in
Jena in 1846 by
Carl Zeiss, Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott. Due to the results of World War II there are currently two parts,the Carl Zeiss
AG located in
Oberkochen with important subsidiaries in
Aalen,
Göttingen and
Hallbergmoos (near Munich) and Carl Zeiss
GmbH located inthe foundation city
Jena.
The organization is named after one of its founders, the German
optician Carl Zeiss (1816-1888).
Carl Zeiss is the premier company of the
Zeiss Gruppe, one of the two large divisions of the
Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. The Zeiss Gruppe is located in
Heidenheim and
Jena.
The other division of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, the glass manufacturer
Schott AG and
Jenaer Glaswerk, is located in
Mainz and
Jena.
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Carl Zeiss Jena (1910) |
The history of Carl Zeiss AG begins in
Jena before
World War II, then the world's largest location of camera production. Zeiss Ikon represented a significant part of the production along with dozens of other brands and factories.
The destruction of the war caused many companies to divide into smaller subcompanies and others to merge together. Nevertheless, there was an enormous amount of respect for the innovation and engineering that came out of Dresden—before the war, Dresden had been responsible for the world's first
SLR camera (the
Kine Exakta) and the first miniature camera with good picture quality.
After the war, Zeiss moved to Oberkochen (in southwestern Germany), and
Braunschweig. In 1973, Carl Zeiss AG entered a licensing agreement with the Japanese camera company
Yashica to produce a series of high-quality 35mm film cameras and lenses bearing the
Contax and Zeiss brand names. This collaboration continued under Yashica's successor,
Kyocera, until the latter ceased all camera production in 2005. Zeiss later produced lenses for the space industry, and more recently, has again entered into production of high-quality 35mm camera lenses.
Following
German reunification, Zeiss GmbH Jena has returned to the marketplace. Since the
1990s the companies of the Zeiss Gruppe in and around Dresden have branched into new technologies: screens and products for the
automotive industry, for example. Zeiss nonetheless still continues to be a camera manufacturer, and still produces the
Pentacon,
Praktica[
1], and special-use lenses (e.g.,
Exakta).
Today, there are arguably three companies with primarily Zeiss Ikon heritage:
Zeiss Germany, the
Finnish/
Swedish Ikon (which bought the western
German Zeiss Ikon AG), and the independent eastern
Zeiss Ikon.
Jenoptik produces cameras in the same city as Zeiss Germany (Jena), but is not related.
The Zeiss company was responsible for many innovations in optical design and engineering. Early on, Carl Zeiss realised that he needed a competent designer so as to bring the firm beyond just being another optical workshop, so in 1866, the service of Dr Ernst Abbé was enlisted. From then on, novel products appeared in rapid succession, which brought the Zeiss company to the forefront of optical technology.
Abbé was instrumental in the development of the famous Jena optical glass. When he was trying to eliminate astigmatism from microscopes, he realised that the assortment of optical glass available was not sufficient. After some calculations, he found that, if optical glasses of various properties were available, performance of optical instruments would dramatically improve. 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 did not make great improvement. But the point of these new types of optical glass was the possibility of further corrections, especially correction for
astigmatism, and the highest level of correction:
apochromatic corrections. Abbé started the design of a photographic lens of symmetrical design with five elements, but went no further.
Zeiss' domination of photographic lens innovation was due to Dr Paul Rudolph. In 1890, Rudolph designed an asymmetical 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. This family was constantly developed. In 1891, Series I, II and IIIa appeared with respective maximum apertures of f/4.5, f/6.3, and f/9. 1893 came Series IIa of f/8 maximum aperture. These lenses are now better known by the trademark "Protar", 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 Hoegh. Rudolph gave the idea a rethink and 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.
At about the same time, Rudolph also investigated the Double-Gauss concept of a symmetrical design with thin positive menisii 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. While it was very sharp, it suffered from coma, thus restricted 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 safe to say that every lens manufacturer has produced lenses after 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 35mm 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 can be said to be superior to almost every equivalence 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. A lens so treated was marked with a red "T", short for "Transparent". The technique of applying multiple layers of coating was developed from this basis after the war, and known as "T*" (T-star).
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 35mm 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 35mm single-lens reflex Contaflex, and other types of cameras.
Since the beginning of Zeiss as a photographic lens manufacturer, it has 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. As Yashica's owner
Kyocera terminated camera production in 2006, these lenses are then made by Cosina, who also manufacture most of the new Zeiss designs for the new Zeiss Ikon coupled rangefinder camera. Another licensees active today is
Sony who uses the Zeiss name on lenses on its video and digital still cameras.
Now over 100 years old, Zeiss continues to be associated with expensive and high-quality optical lenses. Zeiss lenses are generally thought to be elegant and well-constructed, yielding high-quality images. Even old lens designs such as the Tessar demonstrate engineering elegance and in the modern age of plastic parts, many Zeiss lenses are still made with predominantly metal components.
Although many lenses of other manufacturers commonly generate the sharpest images in the middle aperture range, Zeiss maintains that their lenses deliver high resolution at all apertures.
Zeiss licenses its technology to be manufactured by third-party companies and indeed, many have done so. Notable names include
Hasselblad, a famous name in
medium format professional cameras.
Rollei,
Yashica,
Sony, and
Alpa amongst others, have used or manufactured lenses under Zeiss license. The
Contax line of 35mm cameras, first produced by Yashica and subsequently
Kyocera until 2005 are perhaps the most well-known to fit Zeiss lenses. Notably absent from this list are the Japanese companies
Canon and
Nikon, who by and large produce their own lenses. However on
January 18,
2006 Zeiss announced that it plans to independently market a series of
fixed focal length lenses designed primarily for Nikon film cameras.
On
April 27,
2005 the company announced a collaboration with
Nokia in the camera phone market. The first product to emerge out of this collaboration is the
Nokia N90. Outside the world of cameras and imaging, Zeiss also produce superb spectacle lenses - particularly those with high
refractive indices that allow patients with higher
eyeglass prescriptions to enjoy thinner, more visually attractive lenses.
The Zeiss Ikon is a
Rangefinder camera by Zeiss similar to
Leica M series cameras. And fully compatible with
Leica and other lenses with
Leica M Mount.
ZF Lenses
Lens line for
Nikon F Mount.
Planar T* 1,4/50 ZF
Planar T* 1,4/85 ZF
ZM Lenses
The ZM line are lenses made for the
Leica M Mount and for the new
Zeiss Ikon Camera with
M Mount.
Distagon® T* 1:2.8 15mm
Biogon® T* 1:2.8 25mm
Zeiss made a milestone in resolution with this lens. 400
Lines per Millimeter.
Biogon® T* 1:2.8 28mm
Biogon® T* 1:2 35mm
Planar® T* 1:2 50mm
Sonnar® T* 1:2 85mm
C Sonnar® T* 1:1.5 50mm
ZS Lenses
Lenses for
Pentax Screw Mount (
M-42)
Planar T* 1,4/50 ZS
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Contax*
Rangefinder cameraOfficial sites
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ZeissOther links
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Carl Zeiss biographies*
Zeiss and HFT*
History of the Zeiss Praktica
