Customer Reviews

A History of the Photographic Lens

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This classic book on the large format photography lens is a must for serious enthusiasts. I have used my local library's copy so much that I decided to buy the book. Boy, was I let down when it came from Amazon.com. It turns out that this is a poor quality reproduction, the original plates having been lost by Academic Press. The text and line drawings are OK, but the halftones stink, and I am disappointed that I paid $51 dollars for this book. It should be described on the Amazon web page as a reproduction-grade book and should be priced at $24.95.

If you've moved from 35mm photography to medium format, you are no
longer confronted with lenses called "Minolta 28-70mm/2.8
G," but rather Tessars, Planars, and Super-Angulons. In medium
format, you're still limited to using lenses provided by the
manufacturer of your camera, but if you move to large format, where
almost any lens can be used on any camera, things become really
convoluted. In short, lens manufacturers give names to their designs
in much the same way that car manufacturers give names to their
products.

Kingslake provides a history that will help the
photographer unravel the advantages of different lens designs as well
as serve as an excellent resource to the classic lens collector.
Diagrams are provided for most significant lens designs up to the
1980's. There are chapters on optical glass and lens attachments. Be
warned that about a third of the 300+ pages are biographical sketches,
with portraits, of important figures in the development of the
photographic lens. This may be of value to some, but less to others.
There is also a very useful, separate, index of lens names, and a
glossary of many of the technical terms used. (Although the index
seemed to leave out some names, such as Protar, which ARE discussed in
the book!).

I didn't find the quality of this printing
objectionable, as did another reviewer. In fact, most of the figures
are line drawings, and aren't really subject to bad
reproduction.

Now for the inevitable complaints.

Kingslake assumes
that the reader has some knowledge of lens design, or at least of
common aberrations. I may get his Fundamentals of Lens Design soon,
but would hate to have to read it as a prerequisite to reading
History. A short chapter on aberrations and lens design would be of
great advantage. The glossary explains some of the terms, but could
use figures to great benefit. The author could use a note indicating
that the subject is to the left and image to the right in the diagrams
(perhaps a convention for opticians, but less likely to be known to
many readers of this book). Likewise, the chapter on optical glass
would be more useful if introduced before discussing the lens designs.
Perhaps cross-hatching on the diagrams or some scheme could be used to
indicate glass densities. Lastly, some lenses designed since the book
was published may now be considered classics, and a reprint with more
lenses would be nice (where is the Tele-Xenar? How about the
Tri-Elmar?)

Even with the minor complaints, I found this book very
informative and useful. It will remain next to my computer for
contributing to lens discussion on newsgroups and for looking up those
classic lenses that appear on auction sites.

Rudolf Kingslake's "History of the Photographic Lens" is not only one of the most informed histories of lens design, but also serves to remind photographers, amateur and professional alike, of the value of older lens designs, largely abandoned in this "modern" computer age. Not only will everyone whose interest in photography far outreaches their credit line or bank account enjoy this retired lens expert's chronicle, the book will also serve to recommend some of the very same optics, still available today, for those wiling to experiment with the vast range of used photographic lenses on the market. The value of my own images relies, in part, on the knowledge that certain designs, such as the Dagor or the Protar can still be used to advantage in larger formats where the need to enlarge is minimal or nonexistent. While some reviewers would like to se the more information on later developments in photographic lenses fom the second half of the century on, I am glad that this text is still in print and hope it shall remain so. rk.

This book discusses the history of the various photographic lens families, of which a large-format photographer would recognize. It is written from the perspective of one of the world's master optical engineers. Many influential early lens families are discussed, as are many 19th century and early 20th century masters of the craft of lens-making. There is no question that Kingslake has left the large-format photographic world a treasured legacy in this book.

If there were ever another edition written, this book could continue further into the 20th century & its major manufacturers & their famous models of lenses and could provide further numerical/quantitative information which would be useful to a large-format photographer. Missing, for example, are tables of specifications per lens or per lens-family, such as diameter of image circle when focused at infinity, physical dimensions of lens (and/or implied corresponding shutter size), and numerous other data useful in using each lens/lens-family. Also missing is such notable venerable lens families as Voitlander-Braunschweig's Lanthar. I would like to see a more complete family tree of the various major 20th-century lens families and of the various 20th-century lens manufacturers (and their mergers). This wonderful book is a most excellent qualitative & theoretical treatment of the history of the photographic lens, but it whets the appetite for further quantitative & technical exposition up to the modern day.

The views contained within this feedback are solely those of Dan'l Miller and are in no way associated with his employer or any other organization.

I won't speak to this as a book for photographers, but rather as one for optical designers. Kingslake covers many of the basics of why such-and-such a design form is good and how it compares to others, detailing everything in a chronological format. He also talks about unusual products such as the Hypergon, which had a spinning cogwheel in front of it. Ingenious!

The book is also useful because Kingslake frequently provides patent years, countries and numbers for the designs he discusses.

The back third of the book is an encyclopedia of biographies of those people who contributed to photographic lens development in one way or another.

One reviewer complained of bad print quality. I can't comment on that because my version is from the early 90s and has no quality issues.

Read this book if you want the answers to questions such as "In the early days of photography, why did groups of people use to sit in a semicircle when having their portraits taken?"

Also, check out Optics in Photography (SPIE Press Monograph Vol. PM06).

Rudolf Kingslake was educated in optics in England then made his way from England to the USA and became in 1937 the head of the Kodak lens design department. This was a time when the strong hand of a leader was allowed to create excellence. Kodak made the famous Ektar Large Format lenses during his leadership. These lenses still compete with modern day lenses (at least those of the 1980's) even though today's modern glasses were not available to him and they do lack the modern flare reducing coatings. So this man is an authority on the history of lens design. I wish he gave more opinion and reputation type remarks since he must have seen it all in lens design. He includes brief comments on lens designers and gives their photo or sketched portraits from the late 1700's through the 1900's. An historically important book though not as complete as I would have liked. Rates a 5 for historical importance alone.

Back to the roots of photography. Amazing journey to the past and the development of extraordinary designs that are still used by the most prestigious lens makes (Leica, Carl Zeiss).