Zoomar lens

[1] Back developed an accessory "Vario-focus" viewfinder (designated PH-532/UF) for the Bell & Howell Eyemo camera variant PH-330-C issued by the United States Army Signal Corps during World War II; this incorporated many of the same principles as the commercial Zoomar lens, including the use of optical compensation.

[1][2] Back applied for a patent in 1946 for a "Varifocal lens for cameras", which described the theory of its operation, using five sets of lenses: ordered from the object to the film, these were the front lens, variator, erector, compensator, and relay, with the variator and compensator mechanically fixed to each other and moving along the optical axis to vary the focal length; the other three sets of lenses remained stationary relative to the film plane.

[6] In 1949, WAVE-TV became the first television station in the United States, to present a live telecast of the Kentucky Derby.

The Münich factory started to produce the first production zoom lens in 1959 for 35mm still photography, the famous 36-82/2.8 Zoomar.

[1] His varifocal lens design was an outgrowth of work he had previously performed for motion picture camera viewfinders and the projector part of a torpedo-targeting trainer.