848
Attempts to widen the angle the angle of view and
correct curvilinear distortion during the 1840s–1850s
usually involved symmetrical duplet arrangements, with
the convex faces of opposing identical elements being
oriented outwards. The fi rst arrangement of this type was
in 1841, when Thomas Davidson placed two achromatic
landscape lenses face to face. This was followed in 1844
by G.S. Crundell mounting two uncorrected Wollaston
meniscus lenses around a central stop. Such lenses were
largely unsuccessful, due to the compounding of an
already signifi cant curvature of fi eld problem.
In 1857, Thomas Sutton advanced a theory explaining
how a symmetrical triplet lens, consisting of two oppos-
ing, achromatic plano-convex elements surrounding an
uncorrected bi-concave element made of quartz, would
be exempt from distortion and capable of a fl at fi eld.
Stopped down, this would have been a practical wide-
angle lens; however, due to the absence of surviving
examples, it does not appear to have been a commercial
success. It was allegedly marketed by Andrew Ross for
a short period in 1859.
Alan Greene
See also: Chevalier, Vincent, and Charles; Lenses: 2.
1860s–1870s; Lenses: 3. 1880–1890s; Petzval, Josef
Max; Ross, Andrew; Sutton, Thomas; and Wollaston,
William Hyde.
Further Reading
Bolas, Thomas, and George E. Brown, The Lens: A Practical
Guide to the Choice, Use, and Testing of Photographic Objec-
tives, London: Dawbarn and Ward, 1902.
Eder, Josef Maria, History of Photography, trans. Edward Eps-
tean, 1945, reprint, New York: Dover, 1978.
Farbre, Charles, Traité encyclopédique de photographie [Ency-
clopedic Treatise on Photography], 4 vols., Paris: Gauthier-
Villars, 1889–1890.
Greenleaf, Allen R., Photographic Optics, New York: Macmil-
lan, 1950.
Kingslake, Rudolf, A History of the Photographic Lens, Boston:
Academic Press, 1989.
Monckhovan, Désiré van, Traité d’optique photographique [Trea-
tise on Photographic Optics], Paris: Victor Masson, 1866.
Ray, Sidney, “The Era of the Anastigmatic Lens,” in Technol-
ogy and Art: The Birth and Early Years of Photography: The
Proceedings of the Royal Photographic Society Historical
Group Conference, 1–3 September 1989, edited by Michael
Pritchard, Bath: R.P.S. Historical Group, 1990.
LENSES: 2. 1860s–1880s
The period 1860–1880 saw a number of developments in
optical design which signifi cantly improved the techni-
cal characteristics and speed of the photographic lens,
the most important of these was the Rapid Rectilinear
lens introduced in 1866.
In Britain John Henry Dallmeyer (1830–1883) and
in Germany Dr. A. H. Steinheil (1832–1893) almost
simultaneously announced the Rapid Rectilinear or
Aplanat lens in 1866. The symmetrical design was
important and came between the early period Petzval,
Doublet, and meniscus-type photographic lenses, and
the introduction of the Anastigmat in 1890. The design
was very successful and remained one of the most popu-
lar until the 1920s and was available in wide-angle and
long-focus versions. It was fi tted as a general purpose
lens to many fi eld, hand and rollfi lm cameras, including
most standard Kodak folding cameras made between
1890 and the 1920s.
Dallmeyer’s design was the subject of British patent
2502 of 27 September 1866 which described “Improve-
ments in compound lenses suitable for photographic
uses.” The design as originally patented was slightly
modifi ed to become the rapid rectilinear lens which
minimised optical distortion and with an aperture of
up to f/6 and a fi eld of view of around 50 degrees. Both
the Dallmeyer and Steinheil lenses were composed of
identical halves each half having about twice the focal
length of the double objective and importantly made
use of fl int glass of different densities.
Steinheil introduced an almost identical design to
Dallmeyer’s which he called the Aplanat. It was de-
signed by the mathematician von Seidel and was another
signifi cant example of the application of mathematical
computation to lens design. Dallmeyer and Steinheil
entered into a public and acrimonious debate over who
had produced the lens fi rst. Steinheil probably had
priority by a few weeks but his claims of piracy of the
design were not proven.
The design was extremely successful and widely
copied by lens manufacturers who issued their copies
under a variety of names including the well-known Eu-
ryscope, Pantoscope, Symmetrical and Universal. The
Bausch and Lomb Rapid Rectilinear was particularly
widespread well into the twentieth century.
While the Rapid Rectilinear lens was the most im-
portant of the 1860–1880 period there were other lenses
that were useful. Steinheil began experimenting with un-
symmetrical lens systems producing the Group Aplanat
of 1879. The design corrected longitudinal aberrations
and was further refi ned in his 1881 patent.
Dallmeyer, from the establishment of his fi rm in
1860, produced a number of other improvements to
photographic optics especially producing “fast,” or wide
aperture, portrait lenses. In 1862 he introduced his Triple
Achromatic lens which offered a lens with minimal
distortion, working at around f/10. The lens was popular
until it was superseded by the Rapid Rectilinear in 1866.
The Dallmeyer Patent Portrait lens, also based on his
1866 patent was a variant of the Petzval lens.
The other well-known British lens manufacturer Ross
introduced in 1864 a low-aperture distortionless lens
which appeared in three variations all under the nameLENSES: 1. 1830s–1850s