tumbledry

Kilauea Lighthouse

Kilauea Lighthouse

Tremendous lighthouse, this. It has the largest Fresnel lens in the world (4 tons!), hand ground in France. It was lifted up from the ocean 110 feet below, and when eventually installed, spun on a friction-reducing bed of mercury until an electronic light replaced it in 1976.

Oh, also - the cost of the lens alone would be over a quarter million dollars in today’s money.

Lens at 33mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/320s
Snapped Jan 4, 2007 at 11:53am