Kubrick`s Lenses

My thanks as well Michael. This makes me want to go back and revisit Barry Lyndon! I remember seeing it right when it opened in NYC that it was visually very rich.....but I didn't give any thought to that aspect of the film other than to be taken in 🙂
 
in cinema we operate t-stops not f-stops, f-stop is the measurement of the opening of the lens, the t-stop is how much light actually makes it to the sensor, there's always some transmission loses. It basically means your f1.4 is closer to T1.7 or T1.8, in cinema there's no place for exposure miscalculations.
 
Carlos Cruz said:
in cinema we operate t-stops not f-stops, f-stop is the measurement of the opening of the lens, the t-stop is how much light actually makes it to the sensor, there's always some transmission loses. It basically means your f1.4 is closer to T1.7 or T1.8, in cinema there's no place for exposure miscalculations.
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I’m aware of this, but there’s no reason you can’t convert a still-camera lens from F-stop to T-stop. Kubrick used all sort of still camera lenses on his movie cameras. With good results too, I may say.

Jim B.
 
That's really cool Michael. Back in the day I had an Arrilfex IIC and a complete set of Cooke Speed Panchro lenses (18mm SerIII, 25mm SerIII, 32mm SerII, 40mm SerII, 50mm SerII and 75mm SerII). Sold the whole lot for $11,000 before the prices really skyrocketed. Big regrets. The Speed Panchro's had such a lovely rendering on 35mm motion picture film.

Best,
-Tim
 
lukitas said:
I don't get it. Other than stopping down, how can you add depth of field to a lens?
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Yeah, I was gonna ask that, too. Maybe by sacrificing some resolution to get uniform sharpness, rather than maximum sharpness, over a range of distances? After all, there is no such thing as a free lunch--you can't outwit mother nature.
 
If anyone here has not watched his movie, "Barry Lyndon" (in which he used the famous ultra fast lens) I would encourage you to do so. It is one of his very best films especially in terms of cinematography and design. He went to extraordinary lengths to be authentic. This is his reason for using the fast lens - some scenes are filmed entirely in candle light because that is how they would have been lit, back in the day. The muskets used in battle scenes were authentic and the British redcoats were actually custom made using original styles and and even original color dyes. This guy was a maniac for authenticity. And it shows to any history buff (or film buff) watching the movie. One of his best!
 
helenhill said:
Great Michael, Thans for that !

Loved that Kubrick would order 10 lenses and then decide which BEST fit his needs...
That's a Luxury I would love to have. 😉
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Yes Helen, and when he talks about the early Zeiss & Schneider lenses, they were made about the same time as many of the Leica lenses we discuss on this forum. And according to the video, most lenses were hand ground at that time. I've seen many of the Zeiss & Schneider lenses in ARRI standard mount that he talks about and the variation in optical quality is quite apparent. If the Leica lenses were also hand ground at the time, I wonder how the variation applies to those old lenses?

Did Cartier-Bresson sort thru multiple copies of the same Leitz lens to find the best sample? I have read of David Douglas Duncan doing just that with the early Nikkor glass.

Best,
-Tim
 
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