Hologon

Hologon

Introduced in	1966
Author	Erhard Glatzel
Construction	3 elements in 3 groups
Aperture	ƒ/8

The Zeiss Hologon is an ultra wide-angle f=15mm f/8 triplet lens, providing a 110° angle of view for 35mm format cameras. The Hologon was originally fitted to a dedicated camera, the Zeiss Ikon Contarex Hologon in the late 1960s; as sales of that camera were poor and the Zeiss Ikon company itself was going bankrupt, an additional 225 lenses were made in Leica M mount and released for sale in 1972 as the only Zeiss-branded lenses for Leica rangefinders until the ZM line was released in 2005. The Hologon name was revived in 1994 for a recomputed f=16mm f/8 lens fitted to the Contax G series of rangefinder cameras.

The Hologon was designed by Erhard Glatzel [de] and others at Zeiss in 1966^[1][2] and patented in 1972. It is a largely symmetric triplet with a fixed aperture; the original German patent application describes a lens with 120° angle of coverage and a f/8 maximum aperture, while the US patent expands this to three related designs with different coverage angles and apertures (120° f/8, 110° f/5.6, and 90° f/8). In each design, the first and third hemispherical elements are made of optical glass with the same refractive index.^[3] At least one prototype Hologon was built in 1964 or 1965 as a large-format lens with a focal length of 110 mm.^[4] It has been shown via radiograph the large format Hologon 8/110mm uses a leaf shutter between the second and third elements, with adjustments to the first and third elements to accommodate it.^[5] The prototype Hologon, internally known as the Bilagon, was sold at auction in 2010 for €28800.^[6]

The name "Hologon" is derived from the Greek words holos, meaning "everything" or "complete", and gonia, meaning "angle"; gonia contributed the final syllable -gon, which had been used in preceding Zeiss wide-angle lens designs such as the Zeiss Distagon and Biogon.^[2] As built, the symmetrical design for the Hologon 8/15mm by Glatzel provided excellent correction of coma, spherical and chromatic aberration, astigmatism, and curvature of field; the main fault was vignetting due to the cos⁴ law, which was corrected by supplying a graduated neutral density filter to make the exposure more even across the film frame.^[5][7] Although the lens consists of only three elements, manufacturing proved difficult.^[5]

The original Hologon (Contarex Hologon 8/15mm) was first released in 1969 as a f=15 mm f/8 lens affixed to a dedicated camera, the Zeiss Ikon Contarex Hologon. In this version, the lens is fixed focus and aperture; the size of the aperture is set by the incised notch in the second element.^[5] Depth of field ranged from 0.5 m (20 in) to infinity.^[8] A bubble level is fitted to the top of the (non-reflex) viewfinder.^[9] Typically, a pistol grip is affixed to the Hologon camera to avoid inadvertently taking pictures of the photographer's fingers.^[8][10]

Approximately 1,400 Contarex Hologon cameras were made;^[7][10] production continued through 1975 in small batches.^[5] In 1971, the list price for the Hologon was US$825 (equivalent to $6,207 in 2023), marked up from the wholesale cost of US$550 (equivalent to $4,138 in 2023).^[11]

The Contarex Hologon 8/15mm lens was later released as part of a set including a finder (with bubble level) and center graduated neutral density filter for Leica M cameras in 1972 (M Hologon 8/15mm). Estimates of production for the M Hologon 8/15mm range from 225 to 1,000.^[12][13] The M Hologon 8/15mm gained a focusing helicoid compared to the Contarex Hologon 8/15mm, and could now be focused down to 0.2 m (7.9 in).^[12][13] Because of the low production numbers and unique focal length, some lenses have been separated from the Contarex Hologon and adapted to Leica mount.^[14]

The G Hologon 8/16mm was announced with the Contax G1 in 1994;^[15] the revised G Hologon 8/16mm retained the name from the earlier Contarex and M Hologon 8/15mm, but the construction was completely different, using 5 elements in 3 groups. Zeiss claimed that contrast had been improved by moving the rear element closer to the film plane. The new G Hologon 8/16mm was also provided with a graduated filter to provide a more even exposure.^[16] The revised construction of the G Hologon 8/16mm also simplified assembly of the lens, as the cemented groups were easier to manufacture than the hemispherical front and rear elements of the Contarex and M Hologon 8/15mm.^[2] Although nominally listed as a 16 mm lens, the focal length of the G Hologon 8/16mm is actually 16.5 mm and it provides coverage of 106° on the frame diagonal.^[17] The G Hologon 8/16mm was the only lens for the Contax G that was manufactured in Germany.^[18]

Like the earlier Contarex 8/15mm Hologon, the G Hologon 8/16mm also has been adapted unofficially to Leica M mount.^[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Zeiss Hologon lenses.

• Puts, Erwin. "Zeiss Contarex lenses: the myth explained". Retrieved 15 November 2018. Includes MTF chart for Hologon 8/15mm.
• "Erhard Glatzel". Zeiss Historica Society. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
• Kidger, Michael J. (2004). "1: Optimization". Intermediate Optical Design. Bellingham, Washington: SPIE Press. p. 1516. ISBN 0-8194-5217-3. Retrieved 15 November 2018. The thickness of the central positive lens is a difficulty in that the aperture stop must be placed inside this lens, and it is clearly impossible for the stop diameter to be variable in the normal way.
• "Contarex Hologon ultra wide". Popular Photography. April 1970.
• Converted Contax G lens for Leica M packages