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Author
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Topic: Apollo-era wide-angle Fairchild/Maurer lens
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Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-11-2026 12:26 AM
   
I just acquired this lens by Fairchild Space Defense Company. I believe it's associated with the Data Acquisition Camera (DAC) used on Apollo. Can't find anything that ties the serial number on this unit. Was curious if any Apollo experts here could give me any info on this actual lens, or what the "207" in the part number is referring to? P/N 110-102, SEB 33100056-207, S/N 1050. It has a lens cap with aged white velcro. Came from Johnson Space Center.  
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rgarner
Member Posts: 1516
From: London, United Kingdom
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 06-11-2026 07:03 AM
It could be the 5mm lens from the DAC. The Smithsonian has one here. |
Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-11-2026 09:38 AM
AI says it was a DAC lens, and it's very close to a perfect match to the one in the Smithsonian. Ghe only difference being that the aperture numbers are inverted between the 2. In the "Apollo Handbook of Pilot Operational Equipment For Manned Space Flight" there is a picture of this lens with the same orientation of the aperture numbers. It also refers to the one for Apollo has P/N configuration number of 208, which is "Apollo and Skylab Flight Unit." This one has a configuration of "207," which I want to find out what that configuration is for. Either way it seems like a hard to find lens used by the DAC camera. |
Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-18-2026 04:48 AM
After hours of research I know that this lens is nearly identical to the flown Apollo lens at the Smithsonian. The difference is the variant — the one I have is 207 while 208 is Apollo Skylab Flight ready ones like the Smithsonian's. I know the mount is the same custom bayonet style that the DAC camera uses, so I am curious if this lens can actually be from Gemini or pre-Apollo? The DAC was flown on Gemini I believe, but haven't seen any info linking that program to the 207 variant. Otherwise I'll probably assume 207 means flight qualification unit? Someone also told me this model lens was the same one they used to create HAL in 2001 a Space Odyssey... interesting. |
oly
Member Posts: 1550
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 06-18-2026 07:34 AM
The infamous HAL 9000 was built around a Nikkor 8mm f/8 Fisheye Lens.The lens used to film from HAL's perspective was a Fairchild-Curtis 160-degree wide-angle lens. |
Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-18-2026 08:06 AM
Ah, thanks for the clarification, the lens here is a 160 deg Fairchild Maurer lens, so maybe similar to the Curtis variant. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 5578
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-18-2026 09:42 AM
160 deg HAL Shoot (massive lens). |
oly
Member Posts: 1550
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 06-18-2026 09:39 PM
The Apollo Maurer 16mm data acquisition camera (DAC) used 16mm film stock; the Fairchild-Curtis 160-degree ƒ/2 ultra wide-angle lens had the ability to cover an image area large enough for 70mm film. It is a significantly larger lens. Kubrick paired the Fairchild-Curtis 160° with a 65mm Super Panavision camera to capture HAL's unique perspective.The lens was originally developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Felix L. Bednarz for Fairchild and Cinerama. The lens was designed to simulate human peripheral vision and project large-format imagery onto dome screens. Because Kubrick projected the image onto flat film, the image gave a distorted perspective. Details of the 5mm Fairchild-Curtis 160-degree ƒ/2 ultra wide-angle lens can be found on page 33, of this Handbook of Pilot Operational Equipment for Manned Space Flight from 1972. This document details that the -208 designation was for the Apollo and Skylab Flight Unit, and was predominantly designed for interior shots using the DAC. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 5578
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-18-2026 11:21 PM
Fairchild Space and Defense 5mm (in the Pilot Operational Handbook) did you intend to say?Rumor has it the Fairchild Curtis lens helped spawn IMAX. |
Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-20-2026 05:33 AM
I think the Fairchild Curtis lens is different than this one. The document you sent is a really good resource for Apollo cameras and equipment used, but since it is from 1973, I think it is a cumulative list of all the photo gear in general., There is another similar NASA technical paper that has a complete chart of all photographic equipment and application separated by missions, all the way to Mercury 6: Apollo Experience Report Photographic Equipment and Operations During Manned Space Flight Programs. The Fairchild Curtis lens was different from the Fairchild Space and Defense lens, similar specs, but the latter was all black and had a custom mounting that only fit the NASA DAC system, a bayonette type mount. |
oly
Member Posts: 1550
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 06-20-2026 09:24 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Space Junk Punk:
I think the Fairchild Curtis lens is different than this one.
Page 33 (2.5-1) lists the same SEB3300056 part number for the 5mm lens, however, yours has the 207 configuration number and that document details the 208 configuration.That same document details that the 5mm lens, part number SEB3300056, was manufactured by Fairchild Space Defense Systems, with the same markings as your lens. Both are 160 degree, f/2 minimum aperture lenses, same part number, different configuration. The one detailed in that document is the 5mm lens for the DAC. The JSC part number format had a - (dash) suffix configuration number. Without knowing how the system worked (anyone know the configuration manager?) I would assume that the difference between a -207 lens and a -208 lens was a small design or manufacturing change, which in this case, may be the re-orientation of the f-stop numbering, which may have come about via feedback from crew stating that the thought the numbers were hard to read and needed re-orientation, or some completely different reason. Given that the Apollo 11 lens is serial number 1018, and yours is 1050, and the image in that document shows a -208 lens with the f-stop numbers orientated the same as yours, i doubt that changing the f-stop numbering was the reason for the configuration change. The Apollo 8 and 9 DAC at the National Air and Space Museum has a -206 configuration 5mm lens. Perhaps a flight manifest has the -207 configuration lens listed somewhere. |
Space Junk Punk
Member Posts: 73
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021
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posted 06-20-2026 12:47 PM
I'm aware of the 207-208 variants, that's the main question I would like to know, what the 207 stood for. I'm not looking for proof this was flown or anything, I just would like to know it's history. I've read all the Apollo mission's stowage manifests and a DAC cameras and a 5mm lens were listed as stowage on Apollo 8,9,10,11, & 12. In Apollo 8 and 9 the 5mm lens has another variant listed -206, then the other later missions are 208. I'm thinking 207 must've been a few units between missions that something was changed, and then changed again to go up to -208 |
oly
Member Posts: 1550
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 06-20-2026 09:29 PM
Do images exist of the DAC in use with a 5mm lens inside the Apollo or Skylab Command module or LEM, and is any footage taken by the DAC using the 5mm available that has a record of equipment used? |
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