Fake Dallmeyer Portrait Anastigmat soft focus 12.5 F4 lens?

[pierre506]

Just got the lens.
But couldn't find any information on VM.
Sizes:
116494
116495
116496
116497

[pierre506]

J H Dallmeyer
PORTRAIT ANASTIGMAT
116498

No. 131461
12 1/2 " F/4
aperture scale: 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32
116499

TURN FOR SOFT FOCUS →
116500

[Steven Tribe]

I don't think so - isn't this one of the low selling Dallmeyers "Cooke triplet soft lenses design" from the late 20's and 30's?

Will check the focal length matches with VM list.


"Portrait Anastigmat f3.5-f6.0 9-18in. The f3.5 has variable softness, while the f4.5-f6.0 are sharp.
This may be a triplet. The initial production date is uncertain but it was probably mainly sold in the interwar
years. It covers 35°. A picture in B.J.A. 1937, p635 shows one with a prominent control lever for the softness
at the front and an iris to f32. It is probably one version of the next item."

My guess is that this is in the F3.5 series but they couldn't maintain (quite) the F3.5 for this size! This smaller aperture for larger sizes is quite common.

[Tim Meisburger]

As I recall the earlier ones were f4 and the later 3.5, but I don't recall where I read that.

[pierre506]

I believe it is the triplet, same as Cooke portrait anastigmat soft focus series II.
Very heavy, if it's real.