Hi folks,
I am a lens designer. I have been a lens designer for quite some time. I've designed camera lenses, objective lenses, telescopes, eyepieces, and so on and so forth. I've designed in the visible, in the thermal, in the UV, and even dabbled in "microwave lenses". I've fabricated lenses, assembled lenses, tested lenses, and destroyed them to see how they fail (a necessary evil). While my official degree is an MSEE, I never did electrical engineering. I took a couple optics electives, got interested in them, highlighted them on my resume and was hired by the Navy into an optical imaging group where I worked for many years. There I taught myself design. At some point I actually went back to school (University of Arizona's Optical Sciences Center) to get the formal classes. Now I work as a lens designer.
My hobby ties into my professional work.
I am a new member to APUG but have enjoyed film photography as a hobby even back when it was just called "photography". I joined to keep up to date on the latest trends in film and camera equipment, as I've seen cost of equipment go down and then creep back up.
So I know the classical optical designs very well. I saw a thread about a Petzval Kickstarter project, and was kind of surprised at the level of interest (but maybe not so surprising). So that got me thinking...
Is there interest in classical camera lenses such as the Rapid Rectilinear, Dagor, etc, reviving them for use with modern cameras?
I would love to revisit the old designs and see the designs become real lenses. That is my passion and why I'm a lens designer.
I think there is, and I'm considering the idea of a Kickstarter. I would start (but not end) with the Rapid Rectilinear... a design which I think provides beautiful photos in a normal format focal length. The original design is well-documented, but unfortunately the glass types called out are no longer made. The first step is updating the design, which I have done. It does what the RR did originally, and looking at the simulated images, the Bokeh is really nice. The focus is sharp but if I move one of the lenses the focus gets softer. Adjusting the softness of the focus could be a feature!
My starting design is a 13.75" f/6 or f/8, for use with an 8" x 10" film, giving a field of view of ~40 degrees by 32 degrees on that film (50 degree diagonal). Does that sound like a useful lens? I am looking for feedback in this regard. I can tune the focal length easily enough while it is in Zemax.
I would use modern materials for the housing such as aluminum or plastic... whatever is appropriate to maintain lens position within tolerances over temperature. I could give it a classic look or a sleek modern look, but more on that later.
Here is a layout of the preliminary design (if I successfully upload).
The design can of course be used for other formats: Scaling of the focal length accomplishes that but it'd be different production runs.
I am a lens designer. I have been a lens designer for quite some time. I've designed camera lenses, objective lenses, telescopes, eyepieces, and so on and so forth. I've designed in the visible, in the thermal, in the UV, and even dabbled in "microwave lenses". I've fabricated lenses, assembled lenses, tested lenses, and destroyed them to see how they fail (a necessary evil). While my official degree is an MSEE, I never did electrical engineering. I took a couple optics electives, got interested in them, highlighted them on my resume and was hired by the Navy into an optical imaging group where I worked for many years. There I taught myself design. At some point I actually went back to school (University of Arizona's Optical Sciences Center) to get the formal classes. Now I work as a lens designer.
My hobby ties into my professional work.
I am a new member to APUG but have enjoyed film photography as a hobby even back when it was just called "photography". I joined to keep up to date on the latest trends in film and camera equipment, as I've seen cost of equipment go down and then creep back up.
So I know the classical optical designs very well. I saw a thread about a Petzval Kickstarter project, and was kind of surprised at the level of interest (but maybe not so surprising). So that got me thinking...
Is there interest in classical camera lenses such as the Rapid Rectilinear, Dagor, etc, reviving them for use with modern cameras?
I would love to revisit the old designs and see the designs become real lenses. That is my passion and why I'm a lens designer.
I think there is, and I'm considering the idea of a Kickstarter. I would start (but not end) with the Rapid Rectilinear... a design which I think provides beautiful photos in a normal format focal length. The original design is well-documented, but unfortunately the glass types called out are no longer made. The first step is updating the design, which I have done. It does what the RR did originally, and looking at the simulated images, the Bokeh is really nice. The focus is sharp but if I move one of the lenses the focus gets softer. Adjusting the softness of the focus could be a feature!
My starting design is a 13.75" f/6 or f/8, for use with an 8" x 10" film, giving a field of view of ~40 degrees by 32 degrees on that film (50 degree diagonal). Does that sound like a useful lens? I am looking for feedback in this regard. I can tune the focal length easily enough while it is in Zemax.
I would use modern materials for the housing such as aluminum or plastic... whatever is appropriate to maintain lens position within tolerances over temperature. I could give it a classic look or a sleek modern look, but more on that later.
Here is a layout of the preliminary design (if I successfully upload).
The design can of course be used for other formats: Scaling of the focal length accomplishes that but it'd be different production runs.
Last edited by a moderator: