Photographic optics
The science of optics was considerably more ancient than that of photography. Opticians frequently built lenses destined for telescopes, microscopes and camerae obscurae. Yet the birth of photography led to new demands for obtaining a luminous image, clean right across its surface and with no deformities.
The first lenses were built using a simple lens, known as a meniscus lens, which required the use of a “pupil” or diaphragm in order to restrict light to passing through its centre, thereby limiting errors. Daguerre already used the combination designed by Charles Chevalier of two lenses made from different glass so the faults of one compensated those of the other, improving the end result.
In 1840, Charles Chevalier introduced “photography using combined glass”, which worked both as a landscape lens and as a portrait lens by the addition of a supplementary element.
One year later, the Hungarian optician Joseph Petzval, born in present-day Slovakia, designed a lens whose luminosity would remain unequalled for a long time, frequently used for taking portraits.