Zeiss Biogon


Biogon is the brand name of Carl Zeiss for a series of photographic camera lenses, first introduced in 1934. Biogons are typically wide-angle lenses.

History

The first lens branded Biogon was designed in 1934 by Ludwig Bertele, then assigned to Zeiss Ikon Dresden, the Contax created as a modification of the then Sonnar. It was developed by Carl Zeiss in approximately 1937 and manufactured in Jena, then a redesign in Oberkochen.
In 1951, a new Biogon with a 90° angle of view was designed, also by Ludwig Bertele. The advent of the Biogon opened the way to extreme wide-angle lenses. The first examples were produced from 1954 as the 4.5 / 21 mm for Contax, in 1954, 4.5 / 38 mm for Hasselblad Super Wide, and from 1955 to 1956 as the 4.5 / 53 mm and 4.5 / 75 mm for the Linhof. The original patent spanned three different variants, each with a different maximum aperture: 6.3, 4.5, and 3.4 lenses.

Examples

Since their introduction, lenses branded Biogon are usually approximately symmetrical wide-angle design with a usable angle of view of 90° or more. At 90° the focal length is approximately half as long as the format's diagonal.
Well known camera manufacturers like Hasselblad have or had Biogon derived lenses to offer.
The lenses branded Super-Angulon are based on the construction of the Biogon.
Other Zeiss lenses include the Triotar, Biotar, Biometar, Tessar, Planar, Sonnar,,, Hologon, Topogon, Kipronar, Prokinar.