The earliest experiments on what would become the modern-day photographic lens are attributed to Arab scientist Abu Ali Hasan Ibn-al-Haitham (Alhazen) (965-1040), who detailed looking through portions of a glass sphere in Thesaurus Optica, first published in Latin in 1572. More than two centuries later, in 1803, William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828) described the effects of light on paper treated with guiacum resin, which reportedly inspired Nicephore Niepce to experiment with early photographic processes. After Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1789-1851) officially invented photography in 1839, the first camera lens was developed by his colleague Charles L. Chevalier (1804-1859). This achromatic landscape lens paid homage to Mr. Wollaston by utilizing the meniscus form he perfected. However, with an aperture of f/14 or f/15, there was considerable astigmatism associated with the lens, requiring an extremely long exposure time. The variable focus portrait lens Mr. Chevalier developed in 1840, with an aperture of f/6, was essentially free of spherical distortion.

When German physicist Andreas von Ettingshausen (1796-1878) was introduced to the daguerreotype process and Mr. Chevalier's portrait lens, he shared the information with his friend Joseph (Josef) Max Petzval (1807-1891), who developed a far superior portrait lens that was manufactured by Friedrich Voigtlander (1812-1878) in 1840. Subsequent attempts to produce symmetrical lenses that eliminated the common problem of distortion appeared in the forms of the panoramic lens of Thomas Sutton (1819-1875), the Periskop lens of Carl August von Steinheil (1801-1870), and the Globe lens of Charles "C.C." Harrision (?-1864) and his young protege Joseph Schnitzer (? - ?). Mr. Petzval's Orthoskop lens boldly promised to be "the solution for all the photographer's problems," but when it was revealed that it did not remove distortion completely, the Orthoskop quickly faded into obscurity. By the late 1850s, John Henry Dallmeyer (1830-1883) had established a reputation as an innovative rapid lens pioneer, having produced a Pistolgrafe lens for an early instant camera, and a Petzval type rapid lens that had three focus sizes (3-inch, 6-inch, and 8-inch). Because it was used primarily for photographing children, it was referred to by industry professionals as "the baby lens." In 1866, the Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear and the similarly constructed Aplanat lens by Hugo Adolph Steinheil (1832-1893) were produced. However, they significantly overcorrected astigmatism, which adversely affected high aperture lenses. Barium crown glasses developed by Ernst Abbe (1840-1905) and Otto Schott (1851-1935) finally eliminated astigmatism from lenses permanently.

The next great phase of photographic lens development occurred around 1930, when reversed telephoto lenses were being produced for close-ups and for Technicolor three-strip cameras. Zoom lenses were developed for 35 mm movie cameras, and Dr. Henri Chretien suggested applying anamorphic progression to motion pictures. For the amateur photographer, new lenses for 8 mm and 16 mm movie cameras were produced, and large lenses were designed for aerial cameras. In March 1934, Arthur Kingston and Peter Maurice Koch de Gooreynd formed a business partnership, KGK Syndicate Ltd., and by September of that year, Mr. Kingston was credited with developing the Perspex plastic lens, the first of its kind. Two years' later, Rohm and Haas produced an acrylic lens known as Plexiglas. At the same time, DuPont began manufacturing Lucite acrylic lenses. Mr. Kingston continued to promote plastic optics development using precision molding by opening an optical products manufacturing company, Combined Optical Industries Limited (COIL). In 1937, Dow Chemical released STYRON, its brand name for polystyrene, and that same year, the Purma Special camera, which featured an integrated plastic lens view finder, was introduced. A TIME magazine article that same year described the growing competition between manufacturers in the United States, Great Britain, and Germany to replace glass lenses with their plastic counterparts in cameras, binoculars, and eyeglasses. The following year, a contentious dispute between Arthur Kingston and Peter Maurice Koch de Gooreynd about the the true inventor of the plastic lens resulted in the dissolution of their partnership. But COIL remains a leading low vision product manufacturer in the twenty-first century under the ownership of Carclo Technical Plastics.

World War II increased the demand for acrylic, and plastic optics were needed for experimental aerial cameras. At war's end, there was another resurgence in new lens design, primarily for motion pictures (CinemaScope) and for television. After its economic restructuring, Japan began manufacturing affordable quality cameras and lenses for amateur photographers, which culminated in a market domination that continues today. Nikon presently manufactures more than 50 lenses for 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras. In the U.S., Kodak took the lead in the production of objective lenses and acrylic viewfinders, and in 1959, produced the the Brownie 44A, the first plastic lens camera. During the next decade, Kodak manufactured more than 50 million Instamatic cameras with plastic lenses. In the 1970s, zoom lenses became the rage, leading to various types of autofocus lenses with Japan once again leading the way. Like everything else in the twenty-first century, photographic lenses have gone digital. Digital lenses have telephoto capabilities at lightning fast speeds, often with hefty price tags attached to them. As times change, the photographic lens has demonstrated an amazing resiliency to adapt to and evolve with them.


Ref:
2002 Applied Photographic Optics: Lenses and Optical Systems by Sidney R. Ray (Oxford, UK: Focal Press), p. 104.

2009 The Design of Plastic Optical Systems by Michael P. Schaub (Bellingham, WA: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers), pp. 1-2.

1989 A History of the Photographic Lens by Rudolf Kingslake (San Diego: Academic Press), pp. 7-9.

1902 The Photographic Journal, Vol. XXV (London: The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain), p. 65.

1922 November, The Photographic Journal of the Royal Photographic Society, Reginal S. Clay

2009 Plastic Ophthalmic Lenses (1936) (URL: http://www.europeanplasticsnews.com/subscriber/newscat2.html?cat=17&channel=&id=1250087307).

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