carl zeiss
Carl Zeiss Lenses - A Treasure Passed On
12/02/13 09:24 Filed in: Photography & Art
Carl Zeiss Jena, this magical company of incredible camera lenses in the middle of Germany, surrounded by beautiful forests and touched by the arty spirit of Weimar, where Geothe, Schiller, Liszt and Bauhaus had their home. Their lenses must be magic.
And they are. One of the very famous camera lenses made by Carl Zeiss is the famous Planar 50mm f/0.7, used by Stanley Kubrick in Barry Lyndon, designed by Dr. Erhard Glatzel. Dr. Glatzel passed away and his grandson inherited his camera bag, with a content no camera bag in the world has and with a big surprise.
There where suddenly two lenses that nobody knew about, the Distagon 25mm f/1.4 and the Distagon 18mm f/2.8. They are prototypes and never went into production. Example images can be seen on the original forum post and images of more lenses are available via PetaPixel.
Well, the lenses are not very practical on photo safari, but it would be just amazing to work with them during photography courses to see their magnificent qualities in the challenging light of the bush. Maybe one day the grandson will take them there to give it a try, who knows.
Anyway, its great that there are still surprises in camera gear and special lenses evolve from somewhere.
Keep enjoying photography and maybe have a look into old boxes on the attic, a surprise could be waiting there for you.
Happy snapping!
Ute Sonnenberg for www.rohoyachui.com