Amateur Photographer – 20 July 2019

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ZEISS Moon Landing Promotion Source:

NASA

Testbench FIRST CAMERA ON THE MOON

orbiting craft during four
Gemini missions.
The Lunar Surface Camera was
derived from the Hasselblad Super
Wide Camera (SWC) made in
1959, evolving from an earlier
model made in 1954. It consisted
of a slimline body with the fi lm
wind lever on the side and a
wideangle viewfi nder on top,
attached to a fi lm back. There
was no room for a refl ex mirror,
so there was no refl ex focusing.
The modifi cations that turned
the Hasselblad SWC into the
Lunar Surface Camera were

largely to accommodate the way

astronauts needed to handle

delicate controls while wearing

a helmet visor and extra-large,

heavy-duty gloves. A spring-

loaded, top-mounted viewfi nder

was fi tted with its back sight on the

front of the camera body and the

front sight on the rim of the lens.

An extra-large button was added

to the shutter release on top of

the body, and the crank arm on

the side that wound the fi lm was

lengthened. Shutter speeds and

apertures were adjusted with the

addition of large paddle-like arms.

The release lock that freed the

magazine back from the body

was also oversized.

The lens was a 38mm f/4.5

Zeiss Biogon with a 90° angle of

view. Now for the fi rst time, Zeiss

scientists began to

examine the optical

properties of lenses

when used in a

vacuum. What

happened when

the space between

elements no longer

contained air?

Would the refractive

index be changed?

For this reason, Zeiss

calculated the space

between the lens

elements of the Biogon

with the same exactness as

the elements themselves.

Following the Gemini

programme, the Apollo

programme, which eventually

included Apollo 11 and the moon

landing, began in 1968. Soon,

NASA switched its attention to

a new camera.

Hasselblad 500 EL

By now, instead of NASA

modifying standard Hasselblads,

the cameras were modifi ed by

Hasselblad to conform to NASA

specifi cations. The Hasselblad

Hasselblad Super

Wide Camera, the

model that was used

as a basis for the

Lunar Surface Camera

The Lunar

Surface

Camera

© JOHN MARRIAGE

© TIMOTHY CAMPBELL, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MEDIA MUSEUM

Hasselblad 500 EL: the model to be
modified for the first moon landing

Earthrise with a difference:

shot by Michael Collins,

this shows the Lunar

Module ascent stage

approaching the Apollo 11

command module after

Neil Armstrong and Buzz

Aldrin’s historic trip to the

lunar surface

The first photographer

on the moon: Neil

Armstrong, Commander

of the Apollo 11 mission

© NASA