I saw in the Wisner catalog that they are selling a remake of the Zeiss Hypergon lens. Supposedly, this is an 85mm lens that can cover 8x10 with movement, and is rectilinear, flat field, and has virtually no distortion or astigmatism. Coverage is claimed to be a whopping 140 degrees. Of course, this is their ad copy, so I don't expect them to dwell on the lens's inaccuracies and problems. Wisner's version has wate rhouse stops, and sells for something like $2000. From what I could gather from the ad, it's just 2 elements in 2 groups, looking a bit like a hollowed out glass marble.
I've never heard of this lens design, or anything like it. Has anyone used it, or any of it's cousins? Does anyone have any familiarity with it 's history, design strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, usefulness for photography? Are there any lenses of similar design for other formats? I can't imagine that a lens of this type, scaled down to 35mm (and perhaps improved to get up to modern lens standards) wouldn't sell well. But perhaps the 4x5 version would have the most usefulness, if it had a focal length of about 40mm, and could cover 4x5 with significant movement.
Any comments on this?
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