Zeiss Biogon

Biogon is the brand name of Carl Zeiss for a series of photographic camera lenses, first introduced in 1934. Biogons are typically wide-angle lenses.

Biogon
Introduced in1934
AuthorLudwig Bertele
Construction8 elements in 5 groups
Aperture4.5

History
Bertele's Biogon (1934, US 2,084,309)[1]

The first lens branded Biogon (2.8 / 3.5 cm, unbalanced) was designed in 1934 by Ludwig Bertele,[1] then assigned to Zeiss Ikon Dresden, the Contax created as a modification of the then Sonnar. It was developed by Carl Zeiss in approximately 1937 and manufactured in Jena, then a redesign in Oberkochen.

In 1951, a new Biogon with a 90° angle of view (Super Wide Angle) was designed, also by Ludwig Bertele.[2] The advent of the Biogon opened the way to extreme wide-angle lenses. The first examples were produced from 1954 as the 4.5 / 21 mm for Contax, in 1954, 4.5 / 38 mm for Hasselblad Super Wide, and from 1955 to 1956 as the 4.5 / 53 mm and 4.5 / 75 mm for the Linhof. The original patent spanned three different variants, each with a different maximum aperture: f/6.3, f/4.5, and f/3.4 lenses.[2]

Examples
Leica CL with Carl Zeiss Biogon 2,8 / 28 mm lens
Zeiss Biogon 2,8 / 21 mm lens

Since their introduction, lenses branded Biogon are usually approximately symmetrical ("semi-symmetrical") wide-angle design with a usable angle of view of 90° or more. At 90° the focal length is approximately half as long as the format's diagonal.

Well known camera manufacturers like Hasselblad have or had Biogon derived lenses to offer.

The lenses branded Super-Angulon (sold by Schneider Kreuznach and Leica Camera) are based on the construction of the Biogon.

Other Zeiss lenses include the Triotar, Biotar, Biometar, Tessar, Planar, Sonnar, Distagon, Flektogon, Hologon, Topogon, Kipronar, Prokinar.

See also

References
  1. US Grant 2084309, Bertele, Ludwig, "Photographic lens system", issued 22 June 1937, assigned to Zeiss Ikon AG
  2. US Grant 2721499, Bertele, Ludwig, "Five component wide-angle objective", issued 25 October 1955, assigned to Bertele, Ludwig

Bibliography
  • Nasse, H. Hubert (December 2011). "From the series of articles on lens names: Distagon, Biogon and Hologon" (PDF). Camera Lens Blog (CLB) (41st ed.). Carl Zeiss AG, Camera Lens Division. Retrieved 2013-06-08. (NB. German: )
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