Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7

Lens on display during the Stanley Kubrick exhibition.
Lens attached to camera as used for Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

The Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7 is one of the largest relative aperture (fastest) lenses in the history of photography.[1] The lens was designed and made specifically for the NASA Apollo lunar program to capture the far side of the Moon in 1966.[2][3]

Stanley Kubrick used these lenses when shooting his film Barry Lyndon, which allowed him to shoot scenes lit only by candlelight.[4][5]

In total there were only 10 lenses made. One was kept by Carl Zeiss, six were sold to NASA, and three were sold to Kubrick.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 World's fastest lens: Zeiss 50mm f/0.7
  2. ↑ Hollywood, NASA, and the chip industry put their trust in Carl Zeiss
  3. ↑ Dr. J. Kämmerer «When is it advisable to improve the quality of camera lenses?» Excerpt from a lecture given during the Optics & Photography Symposium, Les Baux, 1979
  4. ↑ Ed DiGiulio «Two Special Lenses for Barry Lyndon» American Cinematographer How the stringent demands of a purist-perfectionist film-maker led to the development of two valuable new cinematographic tools.
  5. ↑ This Month's Object: the Zeiss lens f/0.7 Archived February 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
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