I'm unsure if this is an "interesting trivia" post, or a "Friday for sale"
post. Perhaps more of the first, but a bit of both.
Recently, while researching items for my second e-book in my "Photography -
Snap-Shots to Super Shots" series, I came across an interesting story. One
that's been around for nearly 50 years, but one of which I'd never even heard
rumours.
I thought some of you might find the story of the Zeiss Gigantar as interesting
as I did!
Here is the excerpt from the book:
--------
At the 1966 Photokina, Zeiss showed off their "Gigantar", a 40mm f 0.33 lens..
It was, they claimed, "the word's fastest lens". Was it true? No, not really.
The Gigantar was born at a time in which camera companies were designing lenses
with larger and larger apertures, much as they are gunning for more and more
megapixels and ever higher ISO ratings, today. Canon had just released their
50mm f 0.95 and photographers were becoming fixated on the speed of their
lenses, rather than their performance.
Wolf Wehran, then the head of PR at Zeiss, wanted to create a product that
would poke fun at this "fast glass fad". At the Zeiss lens design lab he found
an old condenser lens and with the help of Zeiss technicians, used it to create
a frankenlens for the Zeiss Contarex. He arbitrarily decided that the lens
would have a focal length of 40mm and a maximum aperture of f 0.33 and it was
proudly displayed at Photokina.
But, the lens was a hoax. It was never intended to take photographs. Still,
that fact did not stop this one-off lens from selling at auction, in 2011, for
60,000!
--------
If you are interested in seeing this lens, go here:
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/blog/2013/08/07/the-worlds-fastest-fake-lens-zeiss-40mm-f0-33/
The story appears in both the latest revision of my "Brief History of
Photography" and in volume 2 of "Snap-Shots to Super Shots", which was released
earlier this week.
If interested, you can learn more on all of my e-books here:
www.tinyurl.com/SS2SS-Books
(Should you decide to purchase one, I recommend that you read it on a tablet or
iPad, rather than a Kobo e-ink reader, as the photos and illustrations are
nearly all in colour. Apps to read my (and all ePub format) books are
available for free at Kobo.com. Sorry, no Kindle editions are available at
this time.)
Thanks for reading.
David.
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