Zeiss Biogon

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Biogon
Introduced in1934, 1951
AuthorLudwig Bertele
Construction8 elements in 5 groups
Aperture4.5

Biogon is the brand name of Carl Zeiss for a series of photographic camera lenses, first introduced in 1934. Biogons are typically wide-angle lenses.

History[edit]

Biogon (I), 1934[edit]

  • Biogon (I) and developments
  • Zeiss Biogon [I] by Bertele (1934), from US 2,084,309[1]
    Zeiss Biogon [I] by Bertele (1934), from US 2,084,309[1]
  • Wild Aviotar by Bertele (1947), from US 2,549,159[2]
    Wild Aviotar by Bertele (1947), from US 2,549,159[2]
  • KMZ Jupiter-12 lens
    KMZ Jupiter-12 lens

The first Biogon lens (2.8 / 3.5 cm, an asymmetric design featuring seven elements in four groups) was designed in 1934 by Ludwig Bertele[1] while he was working for Zeiss, as a modification of his earlier Sonnar design (1929).[3]: 120  The Biogon was assigned to Zeiss Ikon Dresden and marketed with the Contax rangefinder camera. It was produced by Carl Zeiss starting in approximately 1937, first in Jena, then a redesigned version was built in Oberkochen.

Bertele would go on to reuse the design for the Wild Aviotar.[3]: 120  After World War II, KMZ also reused the Biogon design for the Jupiter-12.[4]

Biogon (II), 1951[edit]

  • Biogon (II) and antecedents
  • Schneider Angulon by Tronnier (1930), from US 1,882,530[5]
    Schneider Angulon by Tronnier (1930), from US 1,882,530[5]
  • Zeiss Topogon by Richter (1933), from US 2,031,792[6]
    Zeiss Topogon by Richter (1933), from US 2,031,792[6]
  • Roosinov (1946), from US 2,516,724[7]
    Roosinov (1946), from US 2,516,724[7]
  • Wild Aviogon by Bertele (1950), from US 2,734,424[8]
    Wild Aviogon by Bertele (1950), from US 2,734,424[8]
  • Zeiss Biogon by Bertele (1951), from US 2,721,499[9]
    Zeiss Biogon by Bertele (1951), from US 2,721,499[9]

Symmetric wide-angle lenses with meniscus elements facing the object and image had been developed in the 1930s, including the Schneider Kreuznach Angulon (Tronnier, 1930) with two outer negative menisci,[5] derived from the Goerz Dagor (Emil von Höegh, 1892);[10]: 92  and the Zeiss Topogon (Richter, 1933) with two outer positive menisci,[6] derived from the Goerz Hypergon (1900).[11]: 54–55 [3]: 118–119  These concepts were combined in a symmetric super-wide angle lens design using mirrored inverted telephoto lenses, as patented by Roosinov in 1946.[12]: 150 

In 1950, Bertele designed the Wild Aviogon as a similar highly-symmetric wide-angle lens with a large angular coverage.[8] The following year, in 1951, Bertele designed a new Biogon with a 90° angle of view (Super Wide Angle).[9] The Biogon has been characterized as a simpler Aviogon.[12]: 151  Compared to the Aviogon, the Biogon removed a meniscus element and simplified the group ahead of the aperture.[9]

The first regular production Biogon lenses were produced from 1954 as the 4.5 / 21 mm for Contax, in 1954, 4.5 / 38 mm for Hasselblad Super Wide, and from 1955 to 1956 as the 4.5 / 53 mm and 4.5 / 75 mm for Linhof. The original patent spanned three different variants, each with a different maximum aperture: f/6.3, f/4.5, and f/3.4 lenses.[9]

  • Biogon (II) retrofocus development
  • AEG Weitwinkelobjektiv (1932), from DRP 620,538
    AEG Weitwinkelobjektiv (1932), from DRP 620,538
  • Zeiss Sphaerogon by Merté (1935), from US 2,126,126
    Zeiss Sphaerogon by Merté (1935), from US 2,126,126
  • Angénieux Retrofocus (1950), from US 2,649,022
    Angénieux Retrofocus (1950), from US 2,649,022
  • "Wide-angle lens" by Bertele (1952), from US 2,730,016[13]
    "Wide-angle lens" by Bertele (1952), from US 2,730,016[13]

The advent of the Biogon opened the way to more extreme wide-angle lenses. Bertele continued to develop his design, patenting an asymmetric wide-angle lens in 1952 that covered an astonishing 120° angle of view "and beyond, practically distortion free", by adding a strong negative meniscus front element to the Biogon design, showing influences from earlier fisheye lens designs, including the AEG Weitwinkelobjektiv (1932) and Zeiss Sphaerogon (1935, Willy Merté [de]), and the Angénieux retrofocus (1950).[13]

Examples[edit]

Leica CL with Carl Zeiss Biogon 2,8 / 28 mm lens
Zeiss Biogon 2,8 / 21 mm lens

Since their introduction, lenses branded Biogon are usually approximately symmetrical ("semi-symmetrical") wide-angle design with a usable angle of view of 90° or more. At 90° the focal length is approximately half as long as the format's diagonal.

Well known camera manufacturers like Hasselblad have or had Biogon derived lenses to offer.

Influence[edit]

Several companies developed and sold highly symmetric super-wide angle lenses similar to the Biogon, including:

  • Super-Angulon, sold by Schneider Kreuznach for large format cameras[15] and licensed by Leica Camera as a 21 mm f/4 lens for Leica screw mount rangefinder cameras[16] and a later f/3.4 lens for both M rangefinder[17][18] and R SLR mounts;[19] an unrelated Super-Angulon-R 21 mm f/4 was introduced a few years later, using a retrofocus design, as the prior symmetric design required the mirror to be locked up.[20]
  • Grandagon, sold by Rodenstock for large format cameras[21]
  • Nikkor-O 2.1 cm f/4, sold by Nikon in both S rangefinder and F SLR mounts; with the Nikon F, the lens must be used with the mirror locked up.[22] This was replaced for the SLRs by the Nikkor-UD 20 mm f/3.5 retrofocus lens.[23] Nikon also sold the Nikkor-SW line of highly symmetric super-wide angle lenses for large format cameras.[24][25]
  • W.Rokkor-PI f/4.5 and W.Rokkor-QH f/4 21 mm lenses, sold by Minolta in SR mount.[26][27] These were succeeded by the W.Rokkor-NL retrofocus lens, which did not require mirror lock-up.[28]
  • Fujinon-SW, a six-element, four-group design similar to the Super Angulon sold by Fujifilm for both its line of Fujica medium format rangefinder cameras (G690/BL, GM670, GSW6xx)[29] and large format cameras; an improved version (8e/4g) for large format cameras with slightly greater coverage was sold as the Fujinon-SWD.[30]

Günter Klemt patented the Super-Angulon for Schneider in 1954, citing Roosinov's 1946 patent; neither the Wild or Zeiss patents by Bertele were cited;[14] The Super Angulon design shares the same six-element, four-group construction with inner cemented doublets flanked by large negative meniscus elements with the Roosinov patent, diverging significantly from Bertele's Aviogon/Biogon designs. The Super-Angulon bears more similarities to the prior Angulon, designed by Albrecht Tronnier for Schneider in 1930 as another highly symmetric wide-angle lens with two cemented triplets.[5] A later 1957 patent by Klemt in collaboration with Karl Heinrich Macher, refining the Super Angulon design for Schneider, added citations to Bertele's patents.[31]

Wild continued to refine the Aviogon and filed for a patent on a simplified design in 1952;[32] that patent, in turn, was cited by Drs. Erhard Glatzel and Hans Schulz in their 1966 patent for the Hologon.[33]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b US patent 2084309, Bertele, Ludwig, "Photographic lens system", issued 22 June 1937, assigned to Zeiss Ikon AG 
  2. ^ US Patent 2549159A, Ludwig Bertele, "Highly corrected photographic objective having four axially air spaced components", published April 17, 1951, assigned to Wild Heerbrugg AG 
  3. ^ a b c Kingslake, Rudolf (1989). "8. Meniscus Anastigmats". A History of the Photographic Lens. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 117–130. ISBN 0-12-408640-3. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  4. ^ Solomon, Josh (October 11, 2017). "Jupiter-12 35mm F/2.8 Lens Review – Playing Russian Roulette with a Zeiss Copy". Casual Photofile. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b c US patent 1882530, Albrecht Wilhelm Tronnier, "Spherically chromatically and astigmatically corrected wide-angle lens with high aperture", issued October 11, 1932, assigned to Jos. Schneider & Co. 
  6. ^ a b US patent 2031792, Robert Richter, "Anastigmatic objective for photography and projection", issued February 25, 1936, assigned to Carl Zeiss, Jena 
  7. ^ US patent 2516724, Michael Michaelovitch Roosinov, "Wide angle orthoscopic anastigmatic photographic objective", issued July 25, 1950 
  8. ^ a b US patent 2734424, Ludwig Bertele, "Wide angle objectives of six air spaced components", issued 14 February 1956, assigned to Bertele, Ludwig 
  9. ^ a b c d US patent 2721499, Bertele, Ludwig, "Five component wide-angle objective", issued 25 October 1955, assigned to Bertele, Ludwig 
  10. ^ Kingslake, Rudolf (1989). "6. The First Anastigmats". A History of the Photographic Lens. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 81–102. ISBN 0-12-408640-3. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  11. ^ Kingslake, Rudolf (1989). "4. Early Double Objectives". A History of the Photographic Lens. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 49–68. ISBN 0-12-408640-3. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  12. ^ a b Kingslake, Rudolf (1989). "10. Reversed Telephoto Lenses". A History of the Photographic Lens. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 141–152. ISBN 0-12-408640-3. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  13. ^ a b US patent 2730016A, Ludwig Bertele, "Photographic wide-angle objective", issued January 10, 1956, assigned to Bertele, Ludwig 
  14. ^ a b US patent 2781695, Gunter Klemt, "Optical system with large effective image angle", issued February 19, 1957, assigned to Jos. Schneider & Co. 
  15. ^ "SCHNEIDER lenses" (PDF). Pacific Rim Camera, Reference Library. Burleigh Brooks Inc. 1961. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Leitz Wetzlar SUPER-ANGULON 21mm F/4". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Leitz Photographic Equipment" (PDF). Pacific Rim Camera, Reference Library. E. Leitz Inc. November 1969. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  18. ^ "Leitz Wetzlar SUPER-ANGULON 21mm F/3.4". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Leitz Wetzlar SUPER-ANGULON-R 21mm F/3.4". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  20. ^ "Leitz Wetzlar SUPER-ANGULON-R 21mm F/4". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  21. ^ "View Camera Lenses" (PDF). Pacific Rim Camera, Reference Library. Rodenstock Optical Works. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  22. ^ Sato, Haruo. "NIKKOR-O 2.1cm F4 (No.1)". NIKKOR - The Thousand and One Nights. Nikon Imaging. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  23. ^ Ohshita, Kouichi. "NIKKOR Auto 20mmf/4 from (New) NIKKOR-UD Auto 20mm f/3.5 (No.20)". NIKKOR - The Thousand and One Nights. Nikon Imaging. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  24. ^ "Nikkor lenses for Large-Format Cameras" (PDF). Nikon Imaging. April 2001. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  25. ^ Gudzinowicz, Michael. "Large-Format Lens Specifications". Graflex.org. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  26. ^ "Minolta W.ROKKOR-PI 21mm F/4.5". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  27. ^ "Minolta W.ROKKOR-QH 21mm F/4". Lens-DB. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Minolta 20mm & 21mm Lenses". subclub.org. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  29. ^ "Fujica G690 Lenses". The 6x9 Photography Online Resource. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  30. ^ "Fujinon Professional Lenses" (PDF). Pacific Rim Camera, Reference Library. Fujifilm. November 1969. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  31. ^ US patent 2897725, Günter Klemt & Karl Heinrich Macher, "Optical system with large effective image angle", published August 4, 1959, assigned to Jos. Schneider & Co. 
  32. ^ GB patent 733308A, "Improvements in wide angle objectives", published July 6, 1955, assigned to Wild Heerbrugg AG 
  33. ^ DE patent 1241637B, Dr Erhard Glatzel & Dr Hans Schulz, "Dreilinsiges Weitwinkelobjektiv [Three-element wide-angle lens]", published June 1, 1967, assigned to Carl Zeiss AG 

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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