Tessar

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Cross-section of a 50mm f2.8 Tessar (for 35mm, M42 fitting)

The Tessar is a camera lens designed by Dr Paul Rudolph, working for the Carl Zeiss Jena company, in 1902. It is normally used as a standard lens, and has been fitted to many millions of cameras.

The design consists of four elements in three groups; the front element is positive, bi-convex (with the rear almost flat), the central a negative bi-concave and, following an aperture, at the rear is a cemented doublet of plano-concave and a bi-convex elements.

The original design had a maximum aperture of f6.3, but the developments in design allowed f2.8 by 1930.

The Tessar has been widely copied, as the Agfa Solinar, Schneider Xenar, Rodenstock Ysar, Kodak Ektar, and the Yashica Yashinon and Minolta Rokkor TLR designs.