The credit for the invention
of the Leica is always given to Oskar Barnack, and rightfully so. But it is doubtful that the camera would have
been successful, had it not been for the incredibly well performing lens designed
by Dr. Max Berek. Thus he deserves equal
credit for the success of the early Leica cameras and lenses, which is exactly
the reason why this blog gives credit not only to the Leica and Oskar Barnack
but to Max Berek as well.
The following interview is
historic in nature. I translated it from
LEICA BREVIER, published in Wetzlar in 1949.
I have not been able to learn
who the interviewer was, but Max Berek's answers are always interesting and
often intriguing in light of technical developments of the intervening decades.
Max Berek
Q: Herr Professor, you designed the first Leitz
lens. The Elmar 50/3.5 and later the Summitar 50/2.0. Both are referred to as “universal
lenses.” Does that mean the Elmar has
been surpassed by the Summitar?
MAX BEREK: I am glad you asked this question first. Even beginners in photography believe they
can't get by anymore with a lens opening of less than f/2, to be prepared for
all occasions.
But I want to get more
detailed. When Leitz, after almost ten
years of development, introduced the Leica in spring of 1924 (ed. Note: 1925),
it didn't start with a lot of advertising, like most inventions, but it was
humbling and exploring; it was to speak for itself when it came to prove its
right for existence. It was perfectly
clear to us that something so principally new and tradition-defying as this
camera would only be accepted with the greatest reservations by most
photographers; the manufacturer, though known worldwide in scientific circles
for its microscopes, was totally unknown as a camera maker. Therefore we had to try to prevent the
possibility of being discredited right at the beginning. And that meant especially the creation of a
high quality lens.
Of course, we would have been
in the position at the time to design a lens with an aperture of f/2, but the
amateur possessed as much as no experience for the useful application of such a
fast lens; they didn't know the pitfalls and the difficulties. So we gave the Leica, for well-considered
reasons, a normal lens with a speed of f/3.5.
For the time this was already unusually fast and still today it does
justice to all tasks the amateur might ask of it for his pictures. Even he who has only little experience will
agree with this and should know especially that the times when it is absolutely
necessary to have a speed of f/2 are rare for the amateur.
If, however, as an
experienced Leica photographer one often takes pictures under very unfavorable
lighting conditions, like sports and vaudeville photographs, of course he
wouldn't want to be without a fast lens.
One knows from his own
experience the limits of large apertures, if for no other reason than the
rather shallow depth of field and you shouldn't have the ambition to photograph
everything under all circumstances wide open, just to save on exposure time. One also knows that most pictures by far are
made at apertures of f/5.6 or f/8 and that therefore an aperture of f/3.5
presents a fine reserve for adverse lighting conditions. But even at full aperture the Elamr still has
such a great depth of field that with halfway correct focusing one will always
obtain good pictures and that is exactly what we wanted to achieve in the first
years of Leica photography. Not until
later did we change over to increasing apertures to f/2.5 and f/2 and lately
f/1.5. This is still the path everybody
should take and nothing would be more wrong than to start with wide apertures.
Max Berek's notes for the design of the 50mm f/3.5 Elmax,
the original lens of the Leica Model A or Leica 1
But the Elmar has another
advantage: it is very robust, space saving and lightweight. Just think of a mountain climber – I don't
mean the one going on walks in the mountains, but the real climber taking
pictures in dangerous situations – he can't risk fighting the difficulties that
the use of a fast lens will bring with it.
For him the Elmar is invincible
In my Alpine photography at the Matterhorn, at the Monte Rosa, etc. -
these must be the first ones taken with a Leica – I only used the Elmar f/3.5
and still today these pictures will withstand any critique. The Elmar 50/3.5 will always be the
recommended lens for the amateur.
Q: Yes, and how is it with color pictures? How do lenses behave there?
MAX BEREK: Well, as you know, color film is pretty much
equally sensitive to all types of light of the visible spectrum. The condition, of course, is that the lens in
use has favorable color correction over the entire visible spectrum. The old anastigmats, 30 to 50 years ago for
instance, wouldn't be of much use because they were corrected for film
materials that were mainly sensitive to green, blue and even purple. The correction in the red end of the spectrum
was totally neglected at the time. The
first Leica lens, however, already possessed a color correction over the entire
visible spectrum.
One could say that the lens
that fulfills the needs of panchromatic film will do so with color film. It is like this: black and white film will
always show its density as a shade of black, whether or not it is caused by
red, yellow or blue light. If the light
will cause unsharpness, this will be registered by the film, regardless which
light might have caused it.
Max Berek at his desk
With color film this is
different. Then the red and the blue
part of the spectrum will only be registered
in proportion to the sensitivity of the eyes which are most sensitive to
yellow. Therefore the spherical
correction of a lens has to be especially good for the center part of the
spectrum and that is something that was taken care of in Leica lenses in the
very first examples.
In practical applications
another point is even more important: the freedom from vignetting in a
lens. Normally vignetting shouldn't
influence the color correction since the combination of the light does not
change. In practice, however, it will
affect it anyway since color film has a comparatively narrow exposure latitude. If the lens shows rather strong vignetting, the
corners of the picture will slip very soon into the region of underexposure and
will show wrong color values. Therefore
the fast Leica lenses also have rather large front elements.
Q: That is especially noticeable with the
Summitar. But doesn't the general speed
of the lens become higher due to the larger front element?
MAX BEREK: No, only the evenness of illumination is
improved. The important thing is the
pupil diameter of the diaphragm in its apparent size as seen from the front of
the lens through the front elements.
With modern, fast lenses this is usually smaller than the free diameter
of the front element fro the following reasons: take a lens in your hand, hold
it in front of a piece of white paper and look straight down into the
lens. You will see a white circle of
light. That is the opening that is
influencing the center of the image area.
Now tilt the lens a little bit.
You will notice immediately that the speed of the lens has to become
less toward the margins of the picture.
To avoid this vignetting as much as possible, it is necessary to make
the front element larger than the relative opening at the center of the lens
would necessitate.
Q: Herr Professor, I heard that Leitz has
already designed lenses with an opening of f/0.85. Why are these lenses not generally available?
MAX BEREK: That was a special edition for X-ray
photography. For general photography
such speeds of course aren't of value.
The depth of field alone is so narrow with such openings that three
dimensional objects could not be shot.
And even with X-ray photography it became apparent that the lens should
be stopped down to at least f/1.2 to obtain a greater resolution.
Q: I recently read about a “rubber lens” (ed.
Note: from the German Gummilinse, a common expression for zoom lens) which
enables you to dial in various focal length at will. Why don't you make something like this
instead of manufacturing eight different lenses in focal lengths from 28mm to
400mm, which I can't afford altogether and for which I would have to lug around
a whole suitcase?
MAX BEREK: You would need a suitcase made especially for
your zoom lens and I think every Leica amateur would object to lugging around
such a monster.
The lens would really be very
large, unhandy and heavy since it would have to consist of more than 20
elements and we shouldn't even talk about the cost; it would be higher than the
combined cost of all the Leitz specialty lenses it had replaced. For large, professional cine cameras such a
lens might have its place, but the Leica will do better to stay with its
interchangeable lenses. Besides, you
will never need all the Leica lenses at the same time. Rather, you will usually get by with three, a
normal, a wide angle and a long lens like the 90mm Elmar. Even an amateur can afford such an outfit if
he buys it little by little.
And the term “rubber lens” is
not exactly appropriate; it is rather a lens with continuously adjustable focal
length.
Q: To what degree are there fault free lenses?
MAX BEREK: Scientifically, there is only one faultless
optical system as Göttingen mathematician Felix Klein demonstrated, a
combination of plane mirrors. Such a
system creates unrecordable images.
We do not have the ability to
create images totally without faults. In
this sense there are no perfect lenses.
The problem is to correct the mistakes so that, in view of the practical
application of the lens, it can be considered perfect.
Q: What certainly does the buyer have of
obtaining a perfect lens? Is one as good
as the next?
MAX BEREK: Everything depends on tolerances; they must
be so close that the remaining errors will have no influence. That is assured by a production system
thought out to the smallest detail, one that covers the entire creation of a
lens. It starts right at the cutting of
raw pieces of glass by controlling impurities, stress lines, etc. This control increases during the manufacture
of each single element, while shaping it by grinding, while polishing and
mounting it and combining it with the rest of the optical system. When the lens to be finally passes all tests
prescribed during the individual working steps, it still won't be delivered,
but will be tried for critical test exposures.
Thus the buyer in each case will have the assurance of getting a perfect
lens.
Max Berek's house in Wertzlar
Bit I want to mention
something else which now and then has led to questions. All Leica lenses are manufactured of high
quality glass types which have to be specially melted. With some of these glasses, for which very
characteristic optical properties are prescribed, it is impossible to totally
eliminate little air bubbles within the glass.
In the first days of the Anastigmats such bubbles were even seen as a
mark of a good lens. To some degree this
is also true today. These bubbles do not
have any influence on correction and can be accepted without reservation.
Q: Can you tell us what innovations we amateurs
might expect in reference to Leica lenses?
MAX BEREK: Substantial innovation cannot be expected in
the near future. It is little known
though that besides the 50/1.5 Summarit we also offer an 85/1.5, the
Summarex. The long focal length makes it
especially suited for portraits, photojournalism, stage and vaudeville
photography and similar purposes. You might
also be interested to know that the line of Telyt lenses with focal lengths of
200mm and 400mm has been widened with an additional lens in the extreme focal
length of 800mm. Of course, this lens is
only of interest to the professional.
Now I would like to say
something to finalize. With the state of
the art of our optics, a well done picture is not so much an optical problem as
it is a problem of the technical precision of the camera, the properties of the
taking material and especially the training of the user. The feeling for a good picture can best be
developed by enlarging or projecting one's pictures large scale. Only then will the amateur have the full
enjoyment of his work.
Please Note: The photographs in this
article are from the Book “Max Berek
, Schöpfer der ersten Leica Objektive, Pionier der Mikroskopie” (Max Berek,
creator of the first Leica lenses, pioneer of microscopy), used with
permission.
Lindemanns Verlag
Nadlerstrasse 4
70173 Stuttgart
ISBN 978-3-89506-284-1
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