Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/08/13
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>At 10:43 AM 8/13/96 PDT,Thomas wrote:
>
>>My question is, how good is this rather old design, recognizing that
>>nothing else that wide is available?
>
>Splutter. Splutter. Ernst Abbe a-spinnin' in his grave, the ghost of Carl
>Zeiss wandering aimlessly, suffering eternal agonies. Wow!
>
>The basic Hologon design is hardly old, dating from the later 1960's. This
>particular design dates from 1994. Perhaps YOU think a 1994 design is
>"rather old" but, to me, it's brand-spanking-new. But, then, I happily
>photograph with a slew of Prewar stuff that I certainly don't perceive as
>"rather old", so perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed.
>
>Marc
>
>
>msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315
>Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
>
>
The basic Hologon design is older than you mentioned. The basic design goes
back to the Topogon from the nineteen-twenties. Zeiss Jena developed the
Topogon originally as a distorsion free super wide-angle for aerial
photography. Graf Zeppelin and his passengers used the lens already!
It confirms again that there is a lot of detail improvement in lens
construction but that radical new lens designs are rare. Of interest to us,
photographers, probably only two since WWII. The retrofocus design for
wideangle lenses (Angénieux) which enabled to build wideangle lenses for
reflex cameras and the Biogon/Super-Angulon design (Zeiss/Schneider) which
enabled to build extreme wideangle lenses without substantial loss of light
towards the corners of the image (Cos4 law).
Gerard Captijn,
Geneva, Switzerland.
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