Amateur Photographer – 20 July 2019

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Inspiring generations to see beyond...

and go beyond

Discover the story behind the images. Source: NASA

Testbench FIRST CAMERA ON THE MOON

THE GERMAN Carl Zeiss

company was founded in Jena

in 1846, primarily to produce

lenses, microscopes, binoculars

and other optical instruments.

As glass technology progressed

Zeiss turned to photographic

optics and built a reputation for

quality, with lenses like the Zeiss

Anastigmat in 1890, the Planar

in 1896 and the Tessar in 1902.

In 1926, following the end

of the First World War, with an

infusion of capital from Zeiss,

four major German camera

manufacturers came together

to form Zeiss Ikon, and the

cameras produced by that

company inevitably used Zeiss

lenses, furthering the company’s

reputation for excellence.

In 1940, when Victor

Hasselblad produced his fi rst

camera at the request of the

Swedish government, he chose

a Zeiss 135mm Biotessar as

its standard lens. Although

Hasselblad fl irted with other lens

manufacturers, the association

with Zeiss continued, and when

Walter Schirra took the fi rst

Hasselblad into space in 1962,

it went with an 80mm f/2.8

Zeiss Planar.

By the time the Hasselblad

500 EL was ready for the

Apollo 11 mission, Zeiss was

working hard to meet the optical

challenges: special lens coatings

to prevent unwanted refl ections

and to ensure full functions

in extreme temperature

fl uctuations; optics that would not

change in zero gravity; prevention

of outgassing (the release of gas

trapped or absorbed in the glass);

and mechanical adaptations

needed for easy operation by

the astronauts.

Everyone remembers the

Hasselblad cameras that went to

the moon. Fewer recall the Zeiss

lenses that were attached to

them, the optical quality of which

produced the razor-sharp images

that have gone down in history.

The Zeiss

connection

moon’s surface. That one was

known as the Data Camera.

The Data Camera was designed

to withstand temperatures from

120°C in the sun to -65°C in the

shade. It needed to work in low

and zero gravity and to survive

extreme amounts of vibration.

Stripped of superfl uous parts, the

leatherette covering was replaced

by thin aluminium plates painted

matt black. The entire refl ex

viewing system was removed and a

metal plate covered the top of the

body. The camera was equipped

with a new, specially developed

60mm f/5.6 Zeiss Biogon lens,

designed to offer excellent contrast

and defi nition, with maximum

freedom from distortion.

Inside the camera a piece of

glass with tiny hairline crosses

On display at the Musée

Nicéphore Niépce in France,

a Hasselblad 500 EL Data

Camera said to be identical to

that used by Neil Armstrong

One of the film backs used by Neil Armstrong on

the Data Camera whose body was left behind

(Transferred from NASA, to the Smithsonian

Institution, National Air and Space Museum)

© DADEROT VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Footstep in the

moon dust, shot by

Neil Armstrong

© NASA