The history of celestial lenses

2002 is the anniversary of the patent 100 of Carl Zeiss-Tessa lens, which is known as "the eagle eye of the camera". During the development of 100 years, "Tiansai" lens is popular all over the world because of its high imaging quality and simple structure. In addition to carl zeiss's own production of numerous Tiansai lenses and their derivative designs, other camera manufacturers are authorized to produce numerous Tiansai lenses under patent authorization. As for the manufacturers and products that directly develop and produce Tiansai lenses without their authorization, Zeiss Germany held a series of centennial birthday commemorative activities for Tiansai lenses.

The "celestial plug" as we know it today refers to a structural form of optical photographic lens, which first appeared one hundred years ago. 1902, with the support of Zeiss, Dr. paul rudolph (1858- 1935) cooperated with another optical designer, E. Wanders Leib, and through accurate scientific calculation, designed the lens of the Tiansai, which was designed at/kloc.

The name of Tiansai means "fast", but it comes from the Greek word "tessares", which means "4". Different from the previous lens design based entirely on the designer's experience, Tiansai lens is the crystallization of the progress of optical technology and computing science in the early 20th century-it is the result of complex scientific calculation. Its optical structure is relatively simple. A typical Tiansai lens has four lenses, which are divided into three groups. Because of its high resolution, high contrast and small distortion, it soon overwhelmed all kinds of lenses before it was put on the market and won the reputation of "camera eagle eye" In fact, almost all lens manufacturers in the world have copied this kind of lens. However, Rudolph and his successors Ernest Wang Delserre and William Walter Mutt designed a series of variations of the Tiansai lens. I'm afraid its designers didn't expect that after 100 years, Tiansai lens, as a huge optical structure system, has been widely used in many fields such as professional photography lens, amateur photography lens, focal plane, remake system, aerial imaging and so on. Because Carl Zeiss has been committed to producing or authorizing supporting lenses for well-known brands such as Hasselblad, many famous photos in history have a credit for Tiansai lenses. According to the statistics of a famous European photography magazine, "Tiansai" lens is the most prolific photographic lens in history. In addition, many camera lens manufacturers in the world also produce Tiansai lenses under the patent authorization of Carl Zeiss. And more examples of imitation without Carl Zeiss' permission are endless. Although we can see many camera lenses with different structures today, this simple and practical lens still attracts the attention of camera lens and camera manufacturing experts. Looking back at the camera lens products designed and manufactured in China for decades, there are many products with similar antenna insertion structure. Even if we take them out and shoot them, we will still see extremely exciting results. An optical expert told me that whoever can get the best image effect with the simplest design structure in lens design is the most talented lens designer, and Dr. paul rudolph should be such a person. On the occasion of the centenary of Tiansai lens, experts from carl zeiss Company said that they could not accurately count the number of Tiansai lenses still in production, but what is certain is that even after 100 years, new Tiansai photographic lenses and their variants are still coming out. In addition to the Tiansai lens, paul rudolph is also the designer of the famous "flat" lens, which appeared in 1896. When it comes to the birth of the Tiansai lens, we can't help but mention Otto Scott. He is an optical glass expert discovered by Ernest Karl Abe, a partner and optical expert hired by carl zeiss from the University of Jena, when Otto Scott was studying lithium glass. 1879, Otto Scott joined carl zeiss company. 1884, these three people set up an optical glass factory in Jena-Jena Scott &; Gonosen Glasses Factory, owned by 3 people. The factory has produced 100 different types of optical glass, making "Jena" synonymous with top optical glass. It was the breakthrough of optical glass technology that provided Rudolph and his successor with a free opportunity.

Tele-Tessar lens was invented by a man named William Walter Mutt in 19 19 while working in carl zeiss company. This is an improved lens, such as the Carl Zeiss 350 mm lens recently purchased by NASA for its space Hasselblad camera. In the following decades, Zeiss Tiansai lens developed into a series, which was assembled on various latest cameras.