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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

different between distagon and planar, what is it?

kakha mshvidobadze said:
Hi guys i want to know what is different between Zeiss distagon and Zeiss planar.

thank you
Click to expand...


Planar

Designed by Dr. Paul Rudolph in 1896 based on the double Gauss design (in 1817, C F Gauss described a telescope objective consisting of a pair of meniscus shaped elements, one positive, and one negative.) The design was 4 groups of 6 elements, and a flat field design. Symmetrical optical configuration producing low spherical aberration and astigmatism. The normal wide airspace separating the positive and negative elements in the double gauss design made a large amount of spherical aberration. Rudolph thickened the negative elements and reduced the airspace as much as possible, which corrected the spherical aberration and the sagittal/ tangential astigmatic aberration. Rudolph also inserted a "buried surface" into the thick negative elements of a cemented interface separating two type of glass having the same refractive index, but different dispersive powers. Not widely used until coating processes were available, due to light loss from the large number of transmission surfaces causing very low contrast. Due to it's complexity and high number of transmission surfaces, it really did not come into it's own until coating was developed. The planar was used as a base for lens derivatives, though in asymmetric form. Almost all the high-aperture lenses supplied on Japanese cameras are modification on the Planar..

Distagon

This is a reversed telephoto lens, consisting of a large negative lens in front of an ordinary lens. This allows it to obtain a short overall focal length with elements of a larger and more manageable size, helps design a system that is favorable for both high relative aperture and wild-angular field, and increased the back focal distance beyond it's usual magnitude, which give space for the mirror of a SLR. The downsides are that is must be physically large, and of complex construction to correct all the aberrations, making the lens more expensive to produce. Reversed telephoto designs are rarely over 2 inches in focal length, and then it is only used for specific applications. Compared to the Biogon, it has a larger circle of illumination full aperture, though softer when wide open, though it is sharper when stopped down. Rear element does not interfere with mirrors in SLR's

source http://www.panix.com/~zone/photo/czlens.htm
 
Stephen Williams said:
Planar

Designed by Dr. Paul Rudolph in 1896 based on the double Gauss design (in 1817, C F Gauss described a telescope objective consisting of a pair of meniscus shaped elements, one positive, and one negative.) The design was 4 groups of 6 elements, and a flat field design. Symmetrical optical configuration producing low spherical aberration and astigmatism. The normal wide airspace separating the positive and negative elements in the double gauss design made a large amount of spherical aberration. Rudolph thickened the negative elements and reduced the airspace as much as possible, which corrected the spherical aberration and the sagittal/ tangential astigmatic aberration. Rudolph also inserted a "buried surface" into the thick negative elements of a cemented interface separating two type of glass having the same refractive index, but different dispersive powers. Not widely used until coating processes were available, due to light loss from the large number of transmission surfaces causing very low contrast. Due to it's complexity and high number of transmission surfaces, it really did not come into it's own until coating was developed. The planar was used as a base for lens derivatives, though in asymmetric form. Almost all the high-aperture lenses supplied on Japanese cameras are modification on the Planar..

Distagon

This is a reversed telephoto lens, consisting of a large negative lens in front of an ordinary lens. This allows it to obtain a short overall focal length with elements of a larger and more manageable size, helps design a system that is favorable for both high relative aperture and wild-angular field, and increased the back focal distance beyond it's usual magnitude, which give space for the mirror of a SLR. The downsides are that is must be physically large, and of complex construction to correct all the aberrations, making the lens more expensive to produce. Reversed telephoto designs are rarely over 2 inches in focal length, and then it is only used for specific applications. Compared to the Biogon, it has a larger circle of illumination full aperture, though softer when wide open, though it is sharper when stopped down. Rear element does not interfere with mirrors in SLR's

source http://www.panix.com/~zone/photo/czlens.htm
Click to expand...

Is one better than the other?
 
thank you very much, so as i understand, by the quality of the image there is not any difference between Planar and Distagon yes?
 
Symmetrical

Symmetrical

kakha mshvidobadze said:
thank you very much, so as i understand, by the quality of the image there is not any difference between Planar and Distagon yes?
Click to expand...

The Cooke Speed Panchro Series I were like the Planar in all focal lengths from 24mm to 100mm. Because they were Symmetrical most of the aberrations cancel out.

Retrofocus lenses like a Distagon are Asymmetrical and so require more elements are can show more rainbow fringe or lateral chromatic aberration. See the note in the retrofocus link below about Cooke and the Technicolor camera.

Retrofocus lenses were introduced when movie cameras had reflex mirrors that got in the way for shorter focal lengths, before that short focus lenses of Planar type were used.

With sensors rather than film though there is a problem with having the rays hit the micro-lens array over the sensor pixels at a steep angle, so most wide angle lenses are of the Distagon type to have the rays more parallel as they go into the sensor.

For lenses over 100mm the Planar becomes large and heavy so Telephoto type lenses of Asymmetrical design are used. The Sonnar is Asymmetrical muti-element triplet type for high speed lenses. Tessar is a four element triplet type that is Asymmetrical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeiss_Sonnar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeiss_Planar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrofocus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephoto_lens

If any of those lens types is made using a computer and the right kinds of glass and all the needed elements it can produce usable images.
 
kakha mshvidobadze said:
thank you very much, so as i understand, by the quality of the image there is not any difference between Planar and Distagon yes?
Click to expand...

Hi,

A full lens set will have both, generally wide angle lenses have more faults, not really sure what you want to know.

Stephen
 
kakha mshvidobadze said:
Hi guys i want to know what is different between Zeiss distagon and Zeiss planar.

thank you
Click to expand...


I believe this is the answer Kakha was looking for...

The Planar is smaller, faster, lighter, sharper and usable over a greater range of distances than the Distagon. (The Distagon is designed for more distant objects) The Planar also has a flatter field. The main benefit of the Distagon is its shutter, although it will give a bit more subject distance when retro-fitted for macro photography.

The Distagon design allows a shutter at f4 which could not be used with a planar (even an f4 planar) The planar performs better at the edges than the distagon wide open.​
from another thread (no link sorry)

There are limits to the Planar design, hence Distagon is preferred for wider lenses.
 
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