Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7

{{Short description|Aperture lens}}

{{Infobox lens design

| name = Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm {{f/ |0.7}}

| scheme =

| year = 1966

| author = Zeiss

| elements = 8

| groups = 2

| aperture = {{f/ |0.7}}

}}

File:Zeiss Planar 50mm F0.7 lens attached to camera..jpg

The Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm {{f/ |0.7|link=yes}} is one of the largest relative aperture (fastest) lenses in the history of photography.{{Citation | url = http://ogiroux.blogspot.com/2008/06/worlds-fastest-lens-zeiss-50mm-f07.html | archivedate = 2009-03-09 | work = Ogiroux | publisher = Google | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090309005033/http://ogiroux.blogspot.com/2008/06/worlds-fastest-lens-zeiss-50mm-f07.html | title = World's fastest lens: Zeiss 50mm f/0.7}}{{self-published source|date=October 2022}}

The lens was designed and made specifically for the NASA Apollo lunar program to capture the far side of the Moon in 1966.[https://web.archive.org/web/20101001210723/http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A8003B58B9/allBySubject/B5283AEBBB27ADA3C1256A2B0037E175 Hollywood, NASA, and the chip industry put their trust in Carl Zeiss]{{Cite web |url=http://www.forums.camera-info.com/contaxinfo/pdf_files/When_is_it_advisable_Zeiss_1979.pdf | first =Dr. J. | last = Kämmerer | title = When is it advisable to improve the quality of camera lenses? | type = excerpt from a lecture | work = Optics & Photography Symposium | place = Les Baux | year = 1979 |access-date=2013-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150424/http://www.forums.camera-info.com/contaxinfo/pdf_files/When_is_it_advisable_Zeiss_1979.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead}}{{Better source|date=November 2019}}{{cite press release |title=One Small Click on the Release Button – One Giant Set of Images for Mankind – ZEISS camera lenses at the Moon landing 50 years ago |url=https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/int/newsroom/press-releases/2019/moon-landing.html |publisher=Zeiss |date=10 July 2019}}

Stanley Kubrick used these lenses when shooting his film Barry Lyndon, which allowed him to shoot scenes lit only by candlelight.{{Citation | publisher = Visual memory | url = http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm | first = Ed | last = DiGiulio | title = Two Special Lenses for Barry Lyndon | work = American Cinematographer | quote = How the stringent demands of a purist-perfectionist film-maker led to the development of two valuable new cinematographic tools}}.[http://www.stanleykubrick.de/eng.php?img=img-l-6&kubrick=newsletter07-eng This Month's Object: the Zeiss lens f/0.7] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120211185228/http://www.stanleykubrick.de/eng.php?img=img-l-6&kubrick=newsletter07-eng |date=February 11, 2012 }}

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.

==See also ==

• Zeiss Planar