Petzval lens

Petzval portrait lens.

The Petzval objective, or Petzval lens, is the first photographic portrait objective lens (with a 160 mm focal length) in the history of photography.[1] It was developed by the Slovak mathematics professor Joseph Petzval in 1840 in Vienna,[2] with technical advice provided by Peter Wilhelm Friedrich von Voigtländer [de]. The Voigtländer company went on to build the first Petzval lens in 1840 on behalf of Petzval, whereupon it became known throughout Europe.[2] Later, the optical instruments maker Carl Dietzler in Vienna also produced the Petzval lens.[2]

  1. ^ US Grant US2500046 A, Willy Schade, "Petzval-type photographic objective", published 7 March 1950, assigned to Eastman Kodak Co. 
  2. ^ a b c Day, Lance; McNeil, Ian (1996). Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. London: Routledge. pp. 958–959. ISBN 0415060427.