Kubrick sourced a Carl Zeiss Planar f0 .7 / 50 mm lens , an aperture two f-stops larger than f1 .4 . This was a still camera lens originally developed by Carl Zeiss for NASA 's Apollo program . Ed DiGulio reluctantly agreed to take on the very difficult process of adapting this lens to a cine camera , which required modifying the lens and permanently modifying a Mitchell BNC camera to work with this lens . Director of photography John Alcott was honored at the 48th Academy Awards with the Best Cinematography award for his work on Barry Lyndon . One of the modified Mitchell BNC cameras , and two of the modified f0 .7 lenses are on display with the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition
48th Academy Awards
48th Academy Awards
Cinema Products Corporation