11 Jun 2007 What do movies, medicine, the military and mass communications have in common? They all depend on "Optics by ELCAN" and the world-renowned optical expertise at ELCAN Optical Technologies in Midland...This was the case with Panavision. Panavision: Inspired by the Past, Focused on the Future™:
What do movies, medicine, the military and mass communications have in common? They all depend on "Optics by ELCAN" and the world-renowned optical expertise at ELCAN Optical Technologies in Midland. Customers that are leaders in their industry often turn to ELCAN to solve challenges that other suppliers have refused to attempt. This was the case with Panavision.
In order to maintain uncompromising quality control and industry leadership – no piece of Panavision equipment is for sale. All state-of-the-art camera systems and lenses are rented to production companies around the world. On return, every piece of equipment is put through a rigorous service check – a camera or lens may be completely stripped apart and rebuilt to be certain it's in the finest working order. Equipment updates and modifications are also done at the same time to ensure each and every piece of equipment is to Panavision's exacting standards.
To push the envelope of cinematographical excellence to the next level, Panavision developed a "wish list" set of specifications for a revolutionary new lens system in 1983. Panavision's optical supplier at the time found the specifications and tolerances to be too tight and refused to even try. Panavision then approached ELCAN with their vision for a new standard of visual experience through their new designs.
Major motion pictures are filmed with lenses of multiple focal lengths to accommodate the Directors' need for a variety of camera shots (telephoto, close ups and wide angle). Different cinematographical lenses in use at the time produced noticeable color aberrations across the focal length spectrum. Each lens change the Director requested necessitated the use of filters or extensive post-production to correct for the change in lenses. This cost, time and extra labor, interfered with the creative filmmaking process.
Panavision's challenge to ELCAN Optical Technologies was to develop a series of lenses with exceptional sharpness & contrast, even field illumination and negligible veiling glare, ghosting or distortion and importantly, that were color-matched across the entire series.
ELCAN started their solution by selecting a new high-performance glass material that was risky, but offered huge advantages. This new glass was critical for the novel optical design that Panavision wanted to try. ELCAN then utilized a new multi-coating technique to control the color aberrations as well as increase the total transmitted light through the lenses. This combination of design and manufacturing innovation made it possible to shoot multiple angles and shots with multiple lenses without the need for filters or intensive post-production editing.
The end result was a new family of optics specifically for motion picture cinematography, the Panavision Primo-L lenses, which are still the sharpest lenses available.
One of the first films shot with the Primo-L lens series was "Empire of the Sun" directed by Steven Spielberg. The narrative below details one of the scenes shot by Spielberg with an 800 mm Primo-L lens:
"Scorsese: Steven is a picture maker and people wonder what a picture maker is. I once asked you about a shot in Empire of the Sun… There's this extraordinary shot of the sun in the morning. A great big sun coming up and the last three kamikaze pilots are doing ritual sake and they are silhouetted against the sun."
"Spielberg: Sometimes it pays to get to the set before your crew, which I try to do on almost every picture. I like to get there first. I walk around, and figure out what I'm going to do that day. I got to the set while it was still dark and then I saw, as it got lighter, where the sun was going to rise. It was going to rise on the very flat area, and I suddenly had this idea. Luckily, thank God, the camera truck had arrived and there was one assistant and he was taking boxes out of the truck. I had the driver and the assistant take an 800mm lens out and stick it up on an Arri, and we ran with five sandbags. I ran into the makeup hut and grabbed these four Japanese who spoke no English. I gave them swords and put hats over their heads, and dragged them out to the field, and basically said, "Do what we did yesterday. Do. Rehearse." I took a sake cup: "And do this [Spielberg mimicked the sake ritual] and bow." I ran back to the camera, which was about an eighth of a mile away. It was awful — this was before we had little motorcycles and golf carts — you just had to run. They were having trouble getting the magazine loaded because the guy who took the camera off the truck was not a loader, so we were both together loading the camera. I had never loaded an Arri before and you have to load it properly. By this time, the sun is five feet off the ground, and we're not going to make it in time. Finally, we closed the gate. I do an eye focus, turn on the camera, and scream as loud as I can, "DO IT LIKE YESTERDAY." It was like kismet, like magic, just where the sun needed to be. We filled the entire frame with the 800mm long lens. We were able to get that moment."
Quoted from: Directors' Guide of America
When no one else could imagine it, design it or build it…ELCAN was there.
Academy Awards won by the Panavision Promo-L lens series:
Empire of the Sun: 1987 Nominee for Best Cinematography filmed with Panavision spherical lenses.
1990 Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate): For the concept and development of the Primo Series of spherical prime lenses for 35mm cinematography.
1991 Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy Plaque): For the concept and development of the Promo Zoom Lens for 35 mm Cinematography.
1998 Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy Plaque): For the concept and development of the Primo series of spherical prime lenses for 35mm Cinematography.
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