The photo and film lenses business area of Carl Zeiss develops and manufactures sophisticated lenses for photography, cine-film and technical applications. It is necessary to emphasise this as part of the Carl Zeiss brand promotion at photokina 2008.

The goal? To present the traditional brand in a modern and emotional way, and make products and allow applications to be experienced by an interested public on a long-term basis. The primary objective is to present the complexity of the manufacturing process for lenses. And to combine this with the usual high demands which Carl Zeiss imposes on design.

The lens, 12 m² in size, is about 3 meters in diameter. Inside it, specially developed multi-media presentations run on four monitors. Here the entire lens manufacturing process is explained in a manner which is clear and easily understood. The multi-media presentation is supplemented by photos and exhibits which introduce highlights from the history of Carl Zeiss photo and film objectives. These include the “Mond-Hasselblad”, the famous “Lichtgigant” (light giant), Planar 0,7/50 mm, special objectives which for example create the aerial photographs for Google Earth, and cinema lenses used in such films as “Lord of the Rings” and “Perfume”.

Just under 170,000 visitors find their way to photokina. The oversized objective is a regular magnet for the public. Here the visitors gain a lasting impression of the core competences through the vivid multi-media presentations and the exhibits.

The visitors are enthusiastic: “I didn’t know that Carl Zeiss makes objectives for film productions too. The “Lord of the Rings” series are some of my absolute favourites”, says one visitor.

Another is impressed by the sharpness of detail produced by the objectives used for the Google Earth photographs. “That’s really fascinating, you can even make out the individual roof-tiles.”