The Zoom Lens

The zoom lens, invented more than a century ago was first used in feature films in the 1930s. Mostly adapted to optical printers in the 30s and 40s, it was Alfred Hitchcock who first brought attention to using the zoom in his 1951film, Strangers on a Train and then, again, with his 1958 film, Vertigo, where he used an effect with the lens to create a sense of dizziness. The zoom lens came into its own in the 1970s when economic pressures pushed directors to use the infinite focal lengths available with a zoom lens to replace their fixed focal length prime lenses, thus saving set-up time and money.