Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 06:07 PM 8/17/1999 +0800, Adrian Bradshaw wrote: >According to Dr Neil Wright's 'A lens collector's Vade Mecum 2nd edition' >'The first antireflection-coated lenses were probably Zeiss Sonnars but >again it would be hard to be definite here. And the first advanced >multicoated lenses may well be the Leitz Summilux f1.4 35mm but there are >other possibilities' Well, in the case of the Zeiss Smakula process, Wright and Wilkinson are close, but I suspect the first production coated lens to have been a small run of 4.5/3.5cm Orthometars in CRF BM dating from very late 1937. Certainly, Kodak and Wollensak were commercially coating optics by the American entry into the Second World War in 1941. I own a 1.5/5cm CZJ Sonnar which was sold here in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1941 and which is coated: it is not changed from the uncoated version save for its coating and only opens to f/11, while the later Wartime models open to f/22. As to multi-coating, most optical researchers grant the priority to Zeiss, which began to multi-coat technical and industrial gear in 1969; Asahi and Zeiss both began commercial production of multi-coated camera lenses in '71, though who was first into the marketplace is a matter of grand debate. I had never heard that the 1.4/35 Summilux was in the running and would appreciate more information. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!