"Lord of the Rings": more than 100 Zeiss lenses used during filming
The silver screen version of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” was the box office smash last year. Even now, viewers are still streaming into German theatres to witness the adventures of Frodo, Elrond, Gandolf and Co. as they battle for control of Middle Earth. By Monday (Feb. 2, 2004) evening 75,000 guests had experienced the final installment of Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy. What hardly anyone knew: more than 100 Carl Zeiss movie lenses were used during the shoot – simultaneously at that!
“Ultra Prime” – a series of completely new, high-performance lenses stretching from an ultra wide-angle lens with a more than 100º wide image angle to a 7.6º tele lens supplied the backbone of Carl Zeiss’ contribution to the film. Several lenses in this series were still prototypes when the director said "roll 'em". Zeiss made the prototypes available for action and rushed them to New Zealand.
Additionally, Zeiss high speed lenses were also used during filming. With a speed of f/1.2, these are the fastest optics available to the film industry. As a result of their technical prowess, Zeiss was presented with Hollywood’s Scientific and Technical Award.
The amount of equipment sent from Germany to New Zealand for “The Lord of the Rings” was 20 times larger than what is used for a typical German movie.
Photo left:
“Ultra Prime" lenses
Photo right:
Frodo is the central figure in the fantasy epic. |  Download PDF newspaper article in German
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