A History of the Photographic Lens

Rudolf Kingslake (1903-2003) was a founding faculty member of the Institute of Optics at The University of Rochester (1929) and remained teaching until 1983. Concurrently, in 1937 he became head of the lens design department at Eastman Kodak until his retirement in 1969. Dr. Kingslake published numerous papers, books, and was awarded many patents. He was a Fellow of SPIE and OSA, and an OSA President (1947-48). He was awarded the Progress Medal from SMPTE (1978), the Frederic Ives Medal (1973), and the Gold Medal of SPIE (1980).

• Introduction. Meniscus Landscape Lenses. Portrait Lenses. Early Double Objectives. Optical Glass. The First Anastigmats. The Triplet Lens and its Modifications. Meniscus Anastigmats. Telephoto Lenses. Reversed Telephoto Lenses. Varifocal and Zoom Lenses. Catadioptric (Mirror) Systems. Lens Attachments. Brief Biographies. Appendix. A Glossary of Optical Terms.

"This book is well illustrated, clearly written and a most useful source of knowledge about lenses. It will interest historians of photography, camera collectors and amateur photographers. For any first-time would-be buyer of a good camera, it will prove an invaluable aid." --NEW SCIENTIST"[Kingslake has written] an instructive and entertaining account of the development of lenses from the earliest simple double convex lens to the meniscus, to doublets and triplets, achromats and apochromats and even aspherics, and including the most elaborate telephoto and zoom lenses used today." --John N. Howard, OPTICS NEWS"Kingslake has done an outstanding job of writing a readable book....Rudy Kingslake is today's first name in optics. His new book belongs in every camera collector's library." --SHUTTERBUG MAGAZINE"Rudolph Kingslake is eminently qualified to write this book...It is...a rich source of references to books, papers, and most importantly patents, where much of lens design knowledge is archived." --JOURNAL OF MODERN OPTICS