toddao Vintage Todd-AO 35 spherical cinema lenses 35mm T1.5 + 125mm T1.7 Mitchell BNCR

[Daniel J. Fox]

Unlike the majority of Todd-AO 35mm lenses, these are spherical prime lenses on Mitchell BNCR mount, with greater than FF/135 coverage.

Both are marked with serial no: 2001 and the branding "Ultra-Fast". They have integrated gears, 90mm frontages, they do extend during focusing and they have dual Tstop and Fstop scales.

The 35mm T1.5 is a rehousing of the first generation Nikkor-N 35mm f1.4. This was easy to confirm as the characteristic 9 bladed aperture was retained and optics had yellowed considerably due to thorium decay. The glass was treated with UV by TLS as part of the servicing and the colour balance is now correct.

The 125mm T1.7 is a bit of a mystery. It has been suggested the lens uses rehoused projector optics, which would make sense as Dr. Richard Vetter did provide projector optics to Ed DiGiulio of Cinema Products, to create additional focal length for Kubrick based on the Zeiss Planar 50mm 0.7.

I've seen some suggestion these lenses were later Todd-AO 65mm lenses, but both are marked "Todd-AO 35" and to my knowledge Mitchell BNCR was never used on any 65mm camera system.

Optics for both lenses are bright and clean, with minimals cleaning marks. The housings are in decent condition for their age and both have been recently serviced by TLS in the UK.

The 35mm has some intermittent oil on the blades, this has been cleaned twice and comes back over time.

A Skype / Teams call is possible to view the lenses and answer any questions a potential buyer may have.

The lenses sell as pair only and ship from the UK at cost (buyer pays all shipping and necessary insurance).

Price: £22,000 (ono)

The lenses will be shipped in a padded Peli-case for extra protection in transit.

[Daniel J. Fox]

Given their age, the optics of both are these lenses are close to perfect.

More and specific images available on request.