Life before Tessars?

[athanasius80]

What were popular lenses for LF cameras before the Tessar came out in 1902? Just curious,
Thanks!
Chris

 

[Barry S]

For portraits, the Petzval was still going strong, and rapid rectilinear/aplanat lenses for everything else.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Well, of lenses that sort-of survive to this day there are the Cooke Triplet (still found in low-end P&S and some view camera lenses), the Protar (forerunner of the the Tessar, although the Tessar is better thought of as a derivative of the triplet), the Dagor, the Hypergon, the Heliar, the Petzval (still used in slide projectors).