sknowles Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I was watching a show on Stanley Kubrick and some of his innovative film techniques. One cinematographer showed a lens he used to film the movie Barry Lyndon, shot completely with candle and natural (window) light, to recreate the light in the 18th century, no reflectors or other lights. It was a Zeiss lens originally developed for NASA, but modified for a film camera. It was a f0.7 lens which looked like it had about 4" or 100mm diamater. Does anyone know anything about this lens? The film was shot entirely wide-open (aperture) and produced some visually interesting indoor scenes, very soft and subdued, and very realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 Only a few scenes in "Barry Lyndon" were shot using available light and that 50mm T/0.7 lens. On a related not , I am pretty sure that the original lens for the Polaroid 20" x 24" camera (it might have been the larger Polaroid camera though) came from the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird' reconnaissance aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 American Cinematographer Magazine's article on the filming of Barry Lyndon; went into some on this lens. The magazine is buried in one of my photo magazine boxes....I will post some info; if/when I unearth the magazine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_haykin Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 This site covers it ALL for all you Noctiloonies out there. www.nemeng.com/leica/040b.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknowles Posted February 24, 2004 Author Share Posted February 24, 2004 Wow, thanks for the information and links. The movie scenes shot with this lens in available light are quite stunning for the softness (partly due to the lack of DOF) and visual realness, but it's also probably sad the lens wasn't useable in other ways after that, not without a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebogaerts Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 As well as getting a chance to see what that NASA f/.07 lens does with candlelight, "Barry Lyndon" is IMO one of the best-shot movies *ever* made. I never really cared much for the story, or the characters, but the cinematography is almost too good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencer_hahn Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 So does that mean that 0.7 is the T-stop or F-stop or both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_stevens3 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Kubrick did indeed use a Zeiss lens that NASA had commissioned. Nasa needed a very fast lens. Short depth of field was not a problem for NASA, since they were using it from space at infinity focus. There have been a very few film camera lenses that were f1.0. I once had a Minolta lens that was an f1.2. It was incredibly fast, allowing flashless shots in a livingroom with ambient light only. The Nasa lens was modified to fit a Mitchell BCN movie camera. The internal shutter had to be removed in order to fit the lens into the Mitchell. That didn't matter to Kubrick, since he would be using it wide open anyway for the shots that were lit by candlelight only. There was no other lighting used in these beautiful scenes from "Barry Lyndon". For general info, the "f" number relates to the maximum lens opening as it relates to the focal length of the lens. Example: if a 50mm lens has a maximum aperture of 50mm, then it is an f1.0. That is, a 1:1 ratio of focal length to aperture. A 50mm lens with a maximum aperture of 25mm (half of the focal length of the lens and a smaller opening) is an f2.0 or a ratio of 1:2. A lens that is f.07 has a maximum aperture that is greater than the focal length of the lens, hence, it lets in a *lot* of light at the expense of an incredibly shallow depth of field (of a foot or less) Our eyes do the same thing in a darkened room, ie pupils wide open, or in a bright room pupils small. This is the only lens that I have ever heard of that was faster than f1.0 One would only have to see "Barry Lyndon" to appreciate the the lucious coloration of the scenes that were shot with this lens. Kubrick compared the effect that he was going for to the subtle coloration of a Vermeer or Rembrandt painting. He certainly achieved his goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oliver_wilkins Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 <p>Thanks Gary. I'm all fired up to watch Barry Lydon now... Here's a clip of a scene shot in candle light, presumably with the F0.7...<br> <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1240799/barry_lyndon_seducing_without_words/">http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1240799/barry_lyndon_seducing_without_words/</a><br> The DOF seems deeper than I would have expected, it certainly has a very painterly palette to it. I wonder what a 0.7 lens does theoretically in terms of contrast, color temp and image quality.<br> Thanks for the f stop explanation, it's making more sense.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry thomas photos Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 <p>One correction to Gary Stevens: the camera was a modified Mitchell BNC, not BCN.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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