The Race to the Fastest Projection Lens

Press material of the time depicted the early history of cine projection as the quest for speed: vivid brilliance on screen meant healthy box office – making the business of brute-force light transmission a priority. Bigger audiences meant bigger cinemas, bigger screens, and therefore even greater demand on projection lenses. The race to improve the …

90mm Projector Lens Group Test

Most makers of 35mm slide projectors offered a bread-and-butter plastic-barrel 85/2.8 and an optically superior upgrade that could be specified at purchase or retro-fitted. These lenses typically (though not always) jumped to 90mm but were always a little faster: commonly f2.4 or f2.5. The glass wasn’t just longer, it was deeper: deluxe options eschewed triplets …