Searching for Fallen Angels’ Lost Lens

Sorting through obscure sources and decades of conflicting rumors to finally identify the ultra-wide lens used to shoot Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels. Places to follow me: twitter: letterboxd: World of Wong Kar Wai | Criterion’s Controversial Remasters vs. Original Blu-ray Releases: The Matrix and How Bad Remasters Happen: Works Cited: “It’s All About Trust.“ Cinema Papers, No. 111 (, 62-63), Aug. 1996 Teo, Stephen. “Johnnie To and the Hong Kong Action Film.“ (, 259), 2007 Gary. “A Coin of Wong Kar-wai.“ City Entertainment (Hong Kong) No. 427 (), 1995 Brunette, Peter. “Wong Kar-wai.“ (, 62, 116, 144), 2005 Links: Part 1: An Introduction “Fallen Angels“ “Not back to the future, but ahead to the past“ “Wong Kar Wai’s “Fallen Angels“ and non-fisheye lenses“ (Jan. 16, 2013) “Gel/lighting choice for dream sequence in bathroom: tips/advice?“ (July 28, 2015) “Are Wong Kar-wai’s new 4k restorations better than the originals?“ Part 2: The “Anyone have any info about the lens(es) used by Christopher Doyle on Wong Kar Wai’s ’Fallen Angels’?“ (r/cinematography, Aug. 22, 2018) “Zoom lenses...“ (Jan. 21, 2004) Cinema Papers, No. 111 “Repair: Cine-Nikkor f/1.9“ (Apr. 14, 2021) “Cine-Nikkor“ (lens series brocure) Part 3: Kinoptik “Film Products from Century Precision Optics“ (Sep. 1, 1995) Carvalho. “The ambivalent identity of Wong Kar-wai’s cinema.“ (, 243), 2009 Motion Picture Lens Database Part 4: The Protsenko. “The Emotional Cinema of Wong Kar-wai“ (, 156), 2018 “Fallen Angels in the city of metaphors“ (Feb. 28, 2014) Part 5: Deductions & Conclusions Vantage Lens Table (Nov. 2014) Century Kinoptik Product Info Additional vids: Media Division: Legendary cine lenses on a budget – Zeiss Super Speeds vs Contax Zeiss BBC: Moving Pictures (with Wong Kar-wai & Christopher Doyle) A Beautiful Evening (Fallen Angels featurette) Timestamps: 00:00 Opening 00:40 Lens primer 03:37 An Introduction 04:48 The 08:51 Kinoptik 13:10 The 15:07 Deductions & Conclusions