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Camera Lens News No. 6
Spring 1999 |
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Oscar for Zeiss – again!
On the evening of February 2, Ralf Coenen, General Manager of the Camera Lens Division at Carl Zeiss, received the much-coveted Academy Plaque from the hands of the actress and presenter Anne Heche at the A.M.P.A.S. award ceremony in Beverly Hills. The award was conferred on Arnold & Richter Cinetechnik GmbH (ARRI) and Carl Zeiss for the design and implementation of the ”Variable Prime Lenses”, a set of three zoom lenses for 35 mm ARRI movie cameras. The reasons given for the award were outlined as follows: ”This series of Variable Prime Lenses opens many creative possibilities, since any focal length can be continuously selected throughout the entire range. They offer sharp, high-contrast, high-resolution images with minimized vignetting, superior to many prime lenses.”
Expressing his gratitude to the Academy for the award, Ralf Coenen commented: “It is a great honor and pleasure for us to receive this award. It is a special source of delight for me that our lenses have helped to make a visit to the movies an unforgettable experience for millions of people all over the world.” When the Oscars(r) were awarded at the end of March, the successful movies included some, e.g. “Shakespeare in Love”, that have been originated on film with these award-winning lenses.
The three Variable Prime lenses cover, in total, a focal length range from 16 to 105 mm, offer a speed of f/2 (or T 2.2) and are the flag-ship products in the Carl Zeiss optical arsenal for motion picture camera manufacturer Arnold & Richter.
Although size and price of the Variable Prime lenses range above average, they offer a clear and valuable advantage to the motion picture industry: increased productivity. Carl Zeiss Variable Prime lenses save time exactly when it costs a hefty premium: during shooting on the set. Time and effort for precise framing and lens changes can be significantly reduced by using these flexible high performance optics.
However, the 1999 Oscar for the Variable Prime lenses is not the first Oscar the AMPAS awarded to Carl Zeiss. In 1987 Carl Zeiss won a technical Oscar for the range of superspeed lenses f/1,2 (T 1.3). And the 1999 Oscar for Zeiss may also not be their last one: There are ideas on Zeiss’ drawing boards, offering new benefits to the industry, that may be well worth a technical Oscar in some years from now. | |
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