A History of the Photographic Lens

by Rudolf Kingslake

The lens is generally the most expensive and least understood part of any camera. In this book, Rudolf Kingslake traces the historical development of the various types of lenses from Daguerre's invention of photography in 1839 through lenses commonly used today.
From an early lens still being manufactured for use in low-cost cameras to designs made possible through such innovations as lens coating, rare-earth glasses, and computer aided lens design and testing, the author details each major advance in design and fabrication. The book explains how and why each new lens type was developed, and why most of them have since been abandoned. This authoritative history of lens technology also includes brief biographies of several outstanding lens designers and manufacturers of the past.

Genres: Photography, Reference

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Daniel]

Incredibly disappointing. Every student's nightmare of a history book. Essentially an overblown list of names, dates, and events, with only the most cursory commentary or explanations. The few interesting tidbits are not given enough depth to satisfy. Assumes far more knowledge of optical principals than the average photographer is likely to be familiar with, and even the notation is never explained. There's one notation in particular that drove me crazy, when detailing specific lenses he often (but not always) gives something like (+ over a -) ## degrees. Plus over minus? What the hell does that mean? I had no idea if it was meant to be approximate, or the total angle of view, or half of it, like, to either side of the axis, as if it there were some potential for it to be asymetric. Also, it reads like something written a hundred years earlier, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but noteworthy. After 200 pages of being boring with his chronology of lens development, the rest of the book is filed out by mini half page bios of every dead guy to ever touch a lens. I didn't bother with that part.

[Chris Hung]

Highly technical but interesting to read!

[Bill White]

This was a fantastic book just right for the hobby I am pursuing: mounting and using old lenses on new cameras. Technical and not really a casual read.