Fastest lens in the West

[denishr]

A piece of tech trivia:
I just saw a documentary on Stanley Kubrick on TV, and there was one (technically) interesting detail about lenses: Kubrick used some Zeiss lens, specially designed by Zeiss for NASA: it was f0.7!
Apparently, Kubrick had a special camera customized for the sole purpose of mounting that lens in order to shoot candle-lit scenes of "Barry Lyndon".

I mean, an f 0.7 lens!!!!

And the shots ans scenes filmed with that lens were really amazing (several were shown).
Well, being originally a photographer, Kubrick sure knew what he wanted - and he knew his lens quite well....

More about the lens and the background story:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm

And, BTW, Kubrick was really quite a director...

Denis

 

[former member]

There are some amazing super-speed optics out there designed for X-Ray machines and old Television cameras. Look at "TV-Heligon" and "XR-Heligon" lenses for example. They have a very short back-focus, but can be adapted to image sensors quite well. They are quite cheap on Ebay.

 

[jon_flanders]

Barry Lyndon was one of those films you really needed to see on a big screen to appreciate.

I do remember the low light scenes, often candlelight.

And who could forget how Kubrick used the Schubert Trio in E flat as a soundtrack?

No one put pictures and music together better than Kubrick.

 

[furcafe]

And let's not forget that Kubrick started out as a still photographer, for Look magazine, IIRC.

 

[Oldprof]

Most reviewers were not kind to "Barry Lyndon" and few people have seen the movie. But it is one of my all-time favorites. Kubrick was a genius.

 

[Pherdinand]

Kubrick was a genius, plain and simple. To me, at least.

 

[denishr]

Kubrick was definitely a genius - no doubt about it. Intrigued by yesterday's documentary on him, I did some Web research, and found an extensive FAQ on him... Some extraordinary stuff there.

I also heard of the rumours that Forman asked him about his (apparently patented) Mitchell BNC camera & Zeiss Planar 50/0.7 combo, which he intended to use in shooting "Amadeus", but apparently nothing came of it...

Denis