Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division - MARKUS ZOHNER...

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Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division

Contents

120 Years of Lenses

from Carl Zeiss 2

30 years of “BILLY” 5

Fire shapes in the

cold and dark 6

Rediscovering the

Amber Road 9

Dr. Hubert Nasse

about „Bokeh“ 14

Carl Zeiss April 2010

Camera Lens News No 35

They’ve been to space; they’re

Hollywood favorites; and they’ve

been the constant companions

of demanding photographers

around the globe for 120 years –

Carl Zeiss lenses.

The first photo lenses came on the

market at the end of March 1890. On

the occasion of its 120th anniversary,

renowned German optics manufac-

turer Carl Zeiss, with key locations

in Jena and Oberkochen, can reflect

on a rich history and look to the

future with confidence. Throughout

the anniversary year, the company

will be celebrating its breakthroughs

in photographic technology with

activities for both customers and the

public. “Carl Zeiss lenses helped write

photographic history. They have truly

stood the test of time,” says Winfried

Scherle, head of the Camera Lens

Division.

ZEISS lenses come into play when-

ever extremely high image quality,

reliability and excellent results are

required. The shots of the 1969

moon landing were taken with Carl

Zeiss lenses, as were numerous

Oscar-acclaimed films, such as Barry

Lyndon, The Lord of the Rings trilogy

and Slumdog Millionaire. One of

Germany’s best-known cameramen,

Michael Ballhaus, has been working

exclusively with ZEISS lenses for years.

“Carl Zeiss’ latest cameras and lenses

allow me to see on screen exactly

what the eye sees,” says Ballhaus.

Several breakthroughs in optical

systems were the work of physicist

and mathematician Ernst Abbe. His

discoveries are still the standard for

today’s modern high-performance

optics. Abbe’s “sine condition”, for

example, has to be fulfilled by all

high-performance lenses and optical

systems. It is in this tradition that

Carl Zeiss has continuously perfected

its calculation methods, making it the

world’s leading company in optics

design.

Carl Zeiss was founded in 1846 in

Jena as a workshop for precision

mechanics and optics. In its early

years, it manufactured microscopes

almost exclusively. Ernst Abbe, a Carl

Zeiss shareholder at that stage, later

began to expand the product port-

folio by developing photo lenses and

binoculars. In the 1880s, Otto Schott

had begun producing new types of

glass with much-improved optical

qualities. This innovation opened up

new possibilities for Carl Zeiss and

it started to develop lens types with

hitherto unheard-of light gathering

power.

Milestones in lens development

In 1896 Carl Zeiss presented its Planar

lens. This lens type is still found in

many professional optical tools for

photography on Earth and in space.

The Planar is the foundation for a

variety of Carl Zeiss high-performance

lenses with impressive color correc-

tion, speed, image flatness and low

image distortion.

Lenses make History 120 years ago Carl Zeiss produced its first camera lenses

When image quality and reliability is essential there is only one possible choice: Lenses by Carl Zeiss

Carl Zeiss: Optics manufacturer with tradition



In 1902, Carl Zeiss submitted a patent

for what would eventually become

the most famous photo lens of all

time: the Tessar. This lens was charac-

terized by a relatively high speed and,

for the first time, could take extremely

sharp pictures with very little optical

effort. It paved the way for camera

design miniaturization, a trend that

continues today. Millions of lenses

in contemporary, high-quality photo

cameras and mobile telephones follo-

wed the Tessar’s example with its

outstanding image quality.

In 1935, Carl Zeiss followed with

another breakthrough invention

that opened up new possibilities for

brilliant imaging: This anti-reflex

coating is denoted by the symbol T*

on today’s lenses. This vacuum-

deposited coating on the lens’s glass

surfaces reduces bothersome reflec-

tions and stray light in the image,

and paved the way for today’s highly

complex optical systems.

In 1943, Carl Zeiss also developed

a procedure to measure lens image

quality with so-called “MTF” curves

(modulation transfer function), which

numerous manufacturers today use

for quality control.

Carl Zeiss even played a pioneering

role in computer aided lens design.

The introduction of CAD-supported

lens development in 1961 replaced

lens design by hand and has enabled

a far more complex construction

and improved interaction between

lens elements ever since.

Still today, the Planar lens design is the base of many optical tools.

Developments by Carl Zeiss shaped todays technology.

Over the last 15 years, joint ventures

with Sony and Nokia have allowed

Carl Zeiss lenses to spread widely.

Sony has been using ZEISS lenses

in its compact cameras and cam-

corders since 1996. Since 2005,

Nokia smartphone and mobile phone

users have been taking photographs

with integrated ZEISS lenses.



Who isn’t familiar with IKEA’s BILLY

bookcase? Regardless of age, profes-

sion and gender, millions of people

have chosen BILLY as the home for

their books, CDs and other bits and

pieces. Last year, the world’s best-

selling bookcase turned 30. For its

biography “BILLY – 30 years old. BIL-

LY – 30 years young” (ZWEITAUSEN-

DEINS, 2009), Martin Grothmaak and

Tom Ziora embarked on a photogra-

phic journey through the history of

this world famous piece of furniture.

Their luggage included a Nikon D3,

the Planar T* 1,4/50 and the Distagon

T* 2,8/25 by Carl Zeiss.

So what is this photographic

journey about?

The biography presents the history

of the BILLY bookcase and how

various generations have used it. The

chapters are dedicated to various

topics, such as “Rebellion”, “Love”

and “Lateral thinkers”. Our task was

to visualise the topic of “Humility”

in association with the bookcase.

First, we chose a number of people

from different generations, social and

professional groups. 30 people, one

for each year. Then we visited them,

set up an empty BILLY bookcase

at home for them, and then pho-

tographed two faces – one of the

person, and the other of the book-

case. The bookcase was like a white

canvas, a carrier for the owner’s

thoughts that were then expressed

by the arrangement of the objects

on the bookcase. We photographed

the same bookcase 30 times, but we

showed 30 different worlds.

What were the challenges

that faced you in your task?

When we did the portrait shots, the

light was one of the biggest chal-

lenges. We wanted to photograph

the people in the same rooms as the

bookcase. And we wanted them to

look as natural as possible, which

is why we decided to work without

artificial light. But we never knew

in advance what to expect or how

much light we would have for the

shoot. We photographed our subjects

in completely different places and at

different times of day; sometimes we

were in the midday sun, others times

it was twilight, and sometimes we

used studio lighting. You need very a

fast lens for “available light” photo-

graphy.

And apart from the speed?

The optical performance of the lens

was particularly important in the

shots of the bookcase. After all, we

didn’t just want to take pictures of

the bookcase; we also wanted to

30 years of “BILLY”Pictures of a famous bookcase

The versatile all-round lens: Planar T* 1,4/50 ZF



Martin Grothmaak is a

co-founder and partner at

the Stuttgart Design Studio

Projekttriangle

(www.projekttriangle.com).

Tom Ziora is a freelance

photographer. Both studied

visual design at the FH Schwäbisch

Gmünd, and to both of them

the picture is the most decisive

medium in design. They have

been working together for several

years, creating projects such

as the “Kochbuch der verpönten

Küche” by Wolfram Siebeck

(Edition Braus im Wachter

Verlag, 2008).

show something of the room it was

in. There wasn’t always much room,

so we had to use a wide-angle lens.

But we usually tried to avoid doing

that, because most wide angles tend

to distort the pictures.

This was the first time you

had experienced ZEISS lenses

in digital photography.

Well, in the medium format range,

we have had excellent results with

ZEISS lenses for Hasselblad. Now

we wanted to see just what we could

do with it in digital photography.

We were really impressed with the

Distagon T* 2,8/25. Despite the wide

angle distortion is minimal, and the

clarity is brilliant. The Distagon T*

1,4/50 was also the right choice.

Although it is not typically used in

portrait photography, it did enable

us to create the style we wanted –

realistic, natural portraits. Its speed

in particular made it ideal for our

purposes. With both lenses, you

can see and feel the quality on the

outside. They are beautifully made,

and are equally appealing in extreme

or unusual situations.

What is the most important

aspect of a lens for you?

Whether a camera or a lens, the

equipment has to work brilliantly and

do exactly what the photographer

wants. But ultimately, what matters

most is the person behind the

camera, his motif, and what he

does with it.



Light artists Jan Leonardo

Wöllert and Jörg Miedza of

Wuppertal in Germany design

and photograph performances

with lasers and fire. The challen-

ges for the camera and lenses

are tremendous.

Our motifs disappear in moments –

we sculpt from light. The work is

created under time exposure at the

moment of the performance. Light

Art Performance Photography –

LAPP – is a symbiosis between the

performance of light art, and the

technical execution of a photograph.

For the performance, that is to say

the performance itself and the repre-

sentation, the steps and movement

need to be planned and implemented

with absolute precision – just like

the choreography for a dance. This

dynamism creates its very own pic-

ture language under time exposure.

We light artists and photographers

work both in front of and behind the

camera. We stage the most diverse

kinds of light in an impressive setting.

The results are entirely innovative and

unique motifs and exceptional photo-

graphs with the ultimate precision in

the design. A specialist photography

magazine once summed it up thus:

“The dance with light – the results

are images that delight and enchant

the eye and are a magnificent additi-

on to the language of photography.”

Extensive lighting equipment is no

less important than the skills of the

performance. It doesn’t have to be

expensive – lots of lighting equip-

ment is bought from “pound shops”,

DIY and end-of-line outlets. We buy

our pyrotechnics, fire, lasers and

special lighting tools from specialists.

Quite often, we combine the most

Fire shapes in the cold and dark From the Weser to the Matterhorn – light art under extreme conditions

Masterpieces using long-time exposure: Light Art Performance Photography



diverse products to create entirely

new lighting tools. LED lights are par-

ticularly useful for LAPP. Focused light

is extremely important. Only a few

manufacturers such as Led Lenser are

able to bundle LED light and create

an intensive ray. Their patented focus

system enables us to control the light

in the scene with absolute precision.

And the new Carl Zeiss lenses on the

Canon 5D MII are the perfect partners

in our often extremely challenging

endeavours. In Light Art Performance

Photography, we subject the lenses

and camera to the most extreme

conditions and loads. Whether direct

lighting into the lens with intensive

pyrotechnics and a strong, focused

LED light or the projection of lasers,

we demand and expect the utmost

of our photographic equipment. We

often travel far for our light perfor-

mances in order to embed the event

into the appropriate setting. We have

to be able to rely completely on our

photographic technology.

We usually photograph under

extreme weather conditions. They

range from the high humidity of a

stalactite cave in China and the

oppressive heat on the south China

coast to freezing temperatures as

low as -20°C or winter storms on

the Little Matterhorn. ZEISS lenses

Distagon T* 3,5/18 ZE and Distagon T*

2,8/21 ZE appealed to us on several

counts, and particularly for their very

high, extremely detailed reproduction

and unbeatable clarity. They proved

astonishingly resilient in extreme cold.

Whereas all the other lenses we have

tried and used froze and iced over at

some point, the Carl Zeiss Distagon T*

3,5/18 ZE never let us down.

On the Matterhorn in Switzerland

at an altitude of 3800 m and 20°C

below freezing, the combination

of Canon 5D MKII and Carl Zeiss

Distagon T* 3,5/18 ZE performed

superbly and without failure. Under

these extreme conditions there was

already a coating of ice on both

items, but the camera and the lens

provided excellent results. The lens

didn’t even mist over or develop ice!

On another occasion on the Weser,

ice crystals formed on Canon, Nikon



and Leica lenses at temperatures

of -16°C, but the 18mm Distagon

remained clear all through the night.

Carl Zeiss lenses offer us tremendous

freedom in creativity. Not just because

they are reliable partners in almost

any weather, but also because they

enable us to photograph extreme

perspectives and picture composi-

tions. There are only a few lenses on

the market that enable us to record

images to such depths under these

lighting, weather and mechanical

effects. We often have multi-layered

picture compositions, and use per-

spective linearities in combination

with the light performance to create

multi-dimensional spaces. Marginal

sharpness is extremely important,

and on the Distagon T* 3,5/18 ZE,

for instance, reaches the farthest

corners even with large apertures.

We cannot and will not be without

ZEISS’s new Distagon lenses any

more. Hardly any other lens is so

well attuned to our work and com-

pletes our picture designs in quite

the same way. In order to facilitate

even more extreme perspectives in

the future, we would be delighted

Carl Zeiss Lenses: Even under extreme conditions the perfect fit for your application

if Carl Zeiss were to add a 14-mm

ultra wide angle to its range.

About LAPP

The Light Art Performance

Photography (briefly LAPP) is a

one-shot long time blub exposure

photography performed additio-

nally with a movement of light.

www.lapp-pro.de



Rediscovering the Amber Road On foot from Venice to St. Petersburg

The Swiss actor, photographer

and writer Markus Zohner spent

nine months hiking the historical

Amber Road from Venice to

St. Petersburg. His 4000-km

journey took him through twelve

different countries at the heart

of Europe. In his luggage: Carl

Zeiss cameras and lenses.

It was not an easy decision to make.

But in view of the 4000-km hike

across Europe that lay ahead of me, I

inally decided to take a digital camera

with me. Despite my passion for

film, the advantages of digital camera

technology were overwhelming.

Saving weight was one considera-

tion – an important argument in an

undertaking where every gram of

weight, every single film reel, had to

be carried thousands of kilometres.

The second – no less important – was

logistics: did I really want to have

films sent to Breslau and then, a few

hundred kilometres later, to send

them to the lab from Kalisz, before

finally being able to check the scans

at an Internet café in Danzig? After

months of testing analogue and

digital materials, I opted for digital. I

packed a Nikon D700 and two fabu-

lous Carl Zeiss lenses: the Distagon T*

3,5/18 ZF as my wide-angle lens,

and the Planar T* 1,4/85 ZF as the

telephoto. To me, the combination

of this full-format camera with the

ZEISS lenses was technical perfection.

What appealed about the D700 was

the fabulous flexibility in setting the

sensitivity. The brightness, clarity and

light intensity meant that every look

through the viewfinder was a treat

for the eyes. I have rarely experienced

such incredible quality in reproduc-

tion and processing.

The dimensions of the world shift on

a hike. Every single step tells us our

limitations: five kilometres mean an

hour, and the after-effects of a day’s



achievement of thirty kilometres are

still with us the next morning. Ano-

ther 75 kilometres to Danzig? That’s

three or four days. Of course, modern

technology – car or the train – would

have us there in an hour. But left to

our own devices – and strength – we

realise just how big the world really

is. We experience distances, rain,

hunger, weight and tiredness far more

intensively. Technology fools us into

thinking we can master the world – or

simply fade out its contradictions.

The technical details of a modern SLR

camera can leave us feeling dizzy.

Having a piece of equipment with me

that can think more quickly than I do

and that is able to shoot between five

and eight images a second filled me

with fear and dread in view of the

rhythm of my steps and the constant

and undeniable slowness of my

existence. One of my most personal

goals on this journey was also to

apply the deceleration of my physical

movement to my creative work, to

my writing and photography. Five

images a second is absolutely crazy.

That’s something you realise when

you can’t keep up with the sights,

sounds and smells of the woods and

forests and meadows, the towns

and villages. When the icy wind of

Hungary is whistling around your ears

and the hot Polish sun burning your

skin; when you are welcomed by the

people of the Czech Republic or an

elderly lady riding a bicycle shows

you the way to your accommodation.

You don’t then pull out a machine

gun to capture these impressions in

seconds and en masse and save them

digitally. You live differently; you live

analogously.

On a journey like this one, far more

happens inside you than you are able

to describe. You live so intensively

that you need a tool that is a match

for your own slowness, but also for

the development of your imagination.

One month in, after crossing Italy

and Slovenia, I sent the SLR back

to Lugano. I had the Zeiss Ikon in

our office sent to Hungary together

with two other treasures: the

Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZM and the

Sonnar T* 2/85 ZM.



Now I was in my element. I had to,

was able to, create an image in my

inner eye before shooting it. At last

the camera was no longer faster than

me; at last the inflation of the mass

of shots no longer wiped out the

clarity of my pictorial search. Sure,

the boundaries were getting tighter:

the film inside the camera defined the

next 36 pictures. No quick change-

over to 12,400 ISO; no 25 shots of

the same motif. But it was also these

boundaries that helped me to see

again. To concentrate. In the same

way as the walking became a medi-

tation, the photography now became

a Zen exercise.

To open oneself up to the uniqueness

of the moment, but also to admit

and accept that many moments

would pass without being recorded.

Not everything is possible, and the

value of things also lies in accepting

this limitation. Once I started using

the Zeiss Ikon camera, photography

once again became what I had been

dreaming of this journey becoming:

a clear, transparent, human tool

that, rather than being a highly

complex machine between my eye

and the people and the landscapes,

instead – consisting only of glass and

metal – became an almost invisible

extension of myself, a third eye, easy,

clear, simple. I began to read the light

again, to know the shutter and the

time before putting the camera to my

eye, to judge distances, to imagine

the way the film would respond to

the colours. A festival of seeing.

Photography.

Mostly I had the Distagon T* 2,8/15

ZM on the camera, the perfect lens

for landscapes and, if I got close en-

ough and used it carefully, for people

as well. The extreme light intensity

of the Sonnar T* 2/85 ZM made it

ideal for indoor portrait shots and

available light situations. I soon found

that the camera was a much lighter

range finder camera than the digital

SLR, which balanced out at least part

of the additional weight of the films.

The logistics problem was solvable.

And yes, it was good and right not

to see the pictures immediately, but

instead to hope that one had done

what one had done to the best of



one’s ability. Thus it was that the

scans that I viewed some weeks later

on a computer somewhere became

series with plenty of surprises.

In Poland I met an old man with a

wonderful face and deep, clear eyes.

I asked him if I could take a picture,

but I had finished the film. All I could

do was change it. We started to

talk. The act of rewinding, removing

the old and inserting the new film

became a bridge. We talked about

photography, about German camera

technology, which he believed was

still the best in the world. He then

asked to look at the camera, and

was delighted with the clarity that he

too was able to understand, admired

the quality of the lens. I can see this

warm and friendly contact on the

photo that I took of him. Contact

that was brought about by the

enforced slowness of the process

of changing the film.

The Zeiss Ikon camera and its clear

eye became a valuable companion

to me on this great hike, became

a friend who understood me. As I

understood it.

Markus Zohner’s book “Die Wieder-

entdeckung der Bernsteinstrasse”

with hundreds of black-and-white

and coloured photographs has just

been published and is available

from selected stores. His multimedia

talks delight audiences in Germany,

Austria and Switzerland.

“Die Wiederentdeckung

der Bernsteinstrasse”

FIZZO Photo Book Film

ISBN: 9788890456091

Available postage free from

[email protected] and

from bookstores.

For further information on

the project please go to

www.amberroad.ch



not be bored reading this article.

We will show an unusual way of

how you can understand depth of

field using very little geometry.

Don’t worry - Aside from some simple

exceptions we will not be talking

about mathematical formulas at all.

Our goal is to understand the inter-

actions and introduce to you some

hands-on rules of thumb. Knowled-

geable facts and figures can be found

in some tables and illustrations.

After all this, it will only be a small

step to fully understand what hides

behind the mysterious term ‘bokeh’.

While the geometric theory of depth

of field looks at the topics from an

idealized point of view you have to

take the real characteristics of each

lens into consideration. This means

that you have to respect the minor

flaws of each lens in order to under-

stand the meaning of ‘bokeh’. The

iris itself is simply not enough – This

much can be said in advance.

For those who are not interested

in getting into too many details

regar-ding the camera technology

we provide some illustrations. Have

fun reading this article.

The complete article by

Dr. Hubert Nasse can be found on

our web site following this link:

www.zeiss.com/cln

You probably come across this

sentence quite a lot when reading

about new lenses. But what are the

technical characteristics behind this

phrase? And what has this got to

do with the iris?

We would like to answer these

questions in this issue of our Camera

Lens News. Since the topic ‘bokeh’

is closely connected to depth of field

we would like to start this article with

a link to the MTF article published in

issue 30 and 31. If you did not have

the chance to read it yet this might

be an interesting supplement to this

article.

Indeed, this topic has been discussed

several times and some of you might

think that this is unexciting topic.

But we are convinced that you will

‘Nine rounded iris blades guarantee images with a harmonic bokeh’

Camera Lens News

A newsletter for all who use, buy, sell,

like, report about and are interested in

Carl Zeiss camera lenses.

All information in Camera Lens News is

accurate to the best of our knowledge at

the time of publication.

Publisher:

Carl Zeiss AG

Camera Lens Division

Marketing

73446 Oberkochen

Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 7364/20-6175

Email: [email protected]

Internet: www.zeiss.de/photo

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