Twelve Elements in Nine Groups
Six by six format wide angle lens coverage similar to a 24mm lens in 35mm format. The "FLE" (Floating Lens Element) refers to the lens's ability to offer a user defined tune-ability to its distortion control(s) so that it can be applied in architectural applications to correct for subtle or very small converging or diverging line distortion as well as being employed extremely close up applications while maintaining good corrections over its full range of architectural applications preserving straight lines as straight lines in photography. The very subtle corrections, as with the two somewhat similar but far more robust Minolta "VFC" embodiments and very much unlike the numerous Nikon intimately coupled embodiments in its wide angle "CRC" corrections or Nikon's architectural physical offset lens schemes.

This Zeiss approach distortion control correction should not be confused with Minolta's or Nikon's architectural lens application approaches It offers a fine tweaking adjustment to apparent pincushion/barrel distortion. Nikon's approach has been, traditionally, to produce a much larger than format coverage, extremely flat field, low distortion lens and offset it keeping the subject and image planes parallel. The Minolta approach had been to vary the curvature of the focal plane with an internal floating group to best optimize non-convergence or non-divergence of image parallel straight lines.

If one looks elsewhere on this website to the treatment of Minolta's VERY ELEGANT "VFC" ANTECEDENT TO THIS ZEISS TECHNOLOGY* one can see the obvious optical familial resemblance between the various lenses.