{"id":12201,"date":"2023-04-12T13:58:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T18:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/?p=12201"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:04:30","slug":"lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2019\/03\/Daigle_20190228_PA_GRAD_085B-1.jpg\" alt=\"Allain Daigle\" class=\"wp-image-7552\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading size-h3\" id=\"h-allain-daigle-19-phd-in-media-cinema-and-digital-studies\">Allain Daigle, &#8217;19 PhD in Media, Cinema and Digital Studies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update<\/strong>: <span style=\"color: #993300\">Allain is now an Instructional Designer at Penn State.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My research tells the story of how lenses became cinema lenses. While lenses are essential for film production, we know very little about the early history of cinema lenses. Rather than just focusing on which lenses were used on certain movies, I recount the history of how lens production became an industry. Lenses were once ground by hand, but between the 1880s and the 1920s, lens production shifted from an artisanal craft to a commercial industry. By looking at how companies created lenses for film production and projection, I expand early film history to account for the creative work of opticians, engineers, advertisers, and scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This history of \u201ccinema lenses\u201d gives us a new perspective on ideas central to film studies: perspective, objectivity, subjectivity, and realism. I examine four influential optical companies in Germany (Zeiss), France (E. Krauss), the United States (Bausch &amp; Lomb), and England (Taylor-Hobson). While each of these companies supplied lenses for motion picture use, the lenses were discussed and used in each country in very different ways. By examining lens producers alongside film history, we can see that lenses were not just the product of remarkable inventors or ever-improving designs. As I came to discover, lenses were in fact shaped by a wide range of debates (social, cultural, and industrial) about the role that sight played in 19th and 20th century life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My research tells the story of how lenses became cinema lenses. While lenses are essential for film production, we know very little about the early history of cinema lenses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-graduate-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My research tells the story of how lenses became cinema lenses. While lenses are essential for film production, we know very little about the early history of cinema lenses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-12T18:58:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-22T21:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-12T18:58:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-22T21:04:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/109\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/Daigle_20190228_PA_GRAD_085B-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Graduate Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective - English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/109\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/Daigle_20190228_PA_GRAD_085B-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-12T18:58:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-22T21:04:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"English\",\"description\":\"UW-Milwaukee\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"English","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/english\/lenses-help-us-see-film-history-from-a-different-perspective\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lenses help us see film history from a different perspective","og_description":"My research tells the story of how lenses became cinema lenses. 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