Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/18

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Using old lenses
From: "A.H.SCHMIDT" <horsts@actek.com.au>
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 07:38:55 +1000

Marc,

Thanks, for the interesting information.

Regards, Horst Schmidt


Marc James Small wrote:

> At 12:40 AM 5/19/99 +1000, Horst Schmidt wrote:
> >I believe Voigtlander was the first lens manufacturer who managed to
> >calculate a lens.
>
> I'm not certain quite what is meant by this.  Microscope objectives were
> being calculated at both Leitz and Zeiss in the 1870's, long before
> Voigtlander began to adopt modern mathematical design techniques at the
> turn of this century.  Certainly, Paul Rudolph's work at Zeiss predates
> Harting's at Voigtlander by a decade and more.
>
> If you are referring to the Petzval lens, that was designed by Petzval and
> THEN turned over to Voigtlander for production and marketing -- the tale
> told is that Petzval was given a platoon of Austrian soldiers to do his
> maths.  It was after this that Voigtlander pirated the design and moved, in
> the middle of the night, no doubt, from Vienna to Braunschweig to escape
> the process of Austrian law.
>
> (So, you see:  the Japanese are certainly not the only thieves in the
> history of camera lenses!)
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
> Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!