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Member LoginSom Berthiot Pan Cinor
Varifocal lenses for 35mm cameras were awarded the Scientific & Technical Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 30th Annual Awards. This was presented to the Societe d’Optique et de Mecanique de Haute Precision, the French makers of the Pan Cinor Lens.
The year was 1958 –the year our Society was formed, the same year Jack Hildyard won the Oscar for his unforgettable cinematography on The Bridge on the River Kwai. He later came to Australia and was our first overseas visitor and the Society’s first Honorary Member. The Som Berthiot Lens became a very useful piece of optical equipment. The zoom mount was activated by a lever under the lens and allowed change in focal length by moving the lever forwards or backwards activating a beautifully smooth action. By the use of a prism inserted in the optics of the lens it allowed an image of the scene to be viewed by a viewfinder attached to the left side of the lens.
This allowed non reflex motion picture sound cameras such as the BNC Mitchell and NC Mitchell more flexibility, combining tracking shots and zoom shots on a sound take at the same time. It meant news interviews and scenes could be filmed by allowing wide angle and close shots to be taken without stopping the camera or swinging the turret. Reflex cameras using this lens removed the viewfinder attachment but the prism inside the optical system remained. The one disadvantage of this was that the prism intercepting the image being received at the film plane absorbed a small amount of light so that although the lens was rated as an f3.9 its trans-mission was T4.7.
As great as this new lens was, at times it restricted a cinematographer’s creativity. Once a director had the zoom lens on the camera he often tended to leave it on and use it to just alter focal length and not allow the cinematographer to use his standard lenses which had better photographic definition and a wider aperture. Having said this, the lens was a great achievement in the late 1950’s.
SPECIFICATIONS:
- 35mm - Varifocal lens has a range from 38mm to 150mm
- 16mm - Varifocal lens has a range from 17mm to 85mm
- 8mm - Varifocal lens has a range from 8mm to 40mm.
from Australian Cinematographer - Issue 20