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sgelb
30-Apr-2009, 08:02
this is a copy of the ektar 203, or is it a rebrand?

o got a chrome or two i did with this lens recently and the detail was pretty incredible..

they say 120 lpm?

Mark Sampson
30-Apr-2009, 09:29
I don't know for sure, but it's extremely likely that the Graflex Optar 203mm f/7.5 is a re-labeled (OEM'd) Kodak Ektar 203mm f/7.7, to be sold by Graflex dealers. Physically they seem identical. Most Optars were made by Wollensak, but perhaps not all. Remember that in the heyday, 1910s-1960s, those three company's factories were within a mile or so of each other. There was probably more co-operation than we realize...

Lynn Jones
30-Apr-2009, 12:09
They were made by Wollensak, lo these many years ago.

Lynn

Jim Rhoades
30-Apr-2009, 12:29
If you ever get down to Roanoke, VA stop in the O. Winston Link museum and see an entire freight train station filled with his train photographs.

Then pay close attention to the equipment he used. Graphic view cameras and Wollensak/Optar lenses. He used what worked. Not having a computer he never suffered the ridicule of the masses of lens snobs telling him his gear could not do the job.

To the lens snobs that always want to flame me, when you have an entire freight warehouse filled with your prints as a museum, then you can tell me how stupid I am.

sgelb
30-Apr-2009, 13:21
well i have been weighing up buying a 240mm, expensive lens and then i got this chrome back from the lab and holy crap was i totally stunned by the detail and resolution, noticeably more than the other 135mm optar I have. personally, I love the graflex.. prefer the slr to the speed, but thats due to handholdability and ease of focus.

jnantz
30-Apr-2009, 13:48
the kingslake history of the rochester camera companies
is a pretty good read ...

http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/Rochester.html

Ernest Purdum
30-Apr-2009, 14:57
I think chances are that the 203mm Optar was made as a competitor of the Ektar. The f7.5 aperture is probably a small (very small) biti of one-upmanship.

One of the nice things about the Optar is that it is less well known than the Ektar and consequently usually sells for significantly less. I can't think of a better starting lens for a new 4X5 user. Quite likely it would become a keeper, too.

EdWorkman
30-Apr-2009, 15:38
Jim said 'train photographs' like Lindberg flew a plane once.
How about night action photos with a gazillion flahbulbs spread all over the landscape
Moving steam locomotive inside a double track tunnel
Freight steaming by a drive-in movie, kids in convertible in the forground, F-86 on the movie screen.
Buy the book.

Jim Rhoades
1-May-2009, 07:33
Ed, your absolutely right. One of the neat things about this museum is all the equipment on display. I don't mean just the camera's and lenses. It includes the flash generators that he invented to trigger those "gazillion" flashbulbs. And the massive mutli-bulb reflectors he designed...and the Buick load of heavy cable to string it all together.

I'm suprised that he never fried himself while testing all this gear out. BTW that Buick convertible the kids were in at the drive-in was his. The plane on the movie screen was inserted in the darkroom.

Yeah, I'll admit that the modern plasmats are "better" than the older Optars, Ektars etc. But are the photographers?

John Kasaian
1-May-2009, 07:41
I've heard (and seen) nothing but good things about the 203 Optar. It ain't the name on the lens, but what you do with it that matters most IMHO.
Cheers!

JOSEPH ANDERSON
1-May-2009, 19:22
Mark Is Correct. Rodenstock Made, For A Short Time Some Optars For Graflex
The 135mm Was One Of Them. Ican't Remember The Other But Don't Think It Was The 203. It Don't Matter If The Lens Is That Good It's A Keeper.
Wollensak's Quality Control Was Not What Kodak's Was. So It Was Possible
To Have Quality Gaps From Copy To Copy Of The Same Lens. I Have A 90mm Wa Optar And It's Very Sharp From F11-f22 I Like The Small Size To. Good Luck With It. Joe A

Bill_1856
1-May-2009, 19:33
Graphic view cameras and Wollensak/Optar lenses. He used what worked. .

There's a Schneider 90mm Angulon on his GV.
(That's the best small museum I've ever visited, anywhere in the world. Not just photographic, either.)

Whir-Click
19-Mar-2021, 16:49
This is an old thread, but since I have a new interest in the lens I’ll post a reply to the OP’s question for posterity.

The 203mm f/7.5 Raptar (also Optar) is the same basic 4/4 dialyte type as the 203 f/7.7 Ektar. But, the Raptar is an in-house Wollensak design (drawn in 1950); a competitor to the 203mm Ektar and definitely not just a rebadged Kodak product.

I just acquired a 203mm f/7.5 Raptar and had my first look on the ground glass. I am a huge fan of the Ektar and have used it extensively, but to my eye the Raptar’s sharpness, contrast, and image circle compare very favorably. Being in a Rapax shutter rather than a Flash Supermatic is a significant point in favor of the Raptar in my book. Bottom line: two similar but distinct offerings from two Rochester companies in their prime.
213994

David Lindquist
21-Mar-2021, 12:29
This is an old thread, but since I have a new interest in the lens I’ll post a reply to the OP’s question for posterity.

The 203mm f/7.5 Raptar (also Optar) is the same basic 4/4 symmetrical type as the 203 f/7.7 Ektar. But, the Raptar is an in-house Wollensak design (drawn in 1950); a competitor to the 203mm Ektar and definitely not just a rebadged Kodak product.

I just acquired a 203mm f/7.5 Raptar and had my first look on the ground glass. I am a huge fan of the Ektar and have used it extensively, but to my eye the Raptar’s sharpness, contrast, and image circle compare very favorably. Being in a Rapax shutter rather than a Flash Supermatic is a significant point in favor of the Raptar in my book. Bottom line: two similar but distinct offerings from two Rochester companies in their prime.
213994

Thank you for this very interesting bit of industrial history. I have a 203 mm f/7.7 Ektar made in 1959 (s/n RTxxx) mounted in a No. 1 Compur shutter; the shutter is marked "Graphic" on the face. It's my understanding that these were supplied to Graflex by Eastman Kodak for use on the Graphic View.

Then I have a 1967 leaflet from Graflex (by then a subsidiary of Singer Corp.). Among the normal lenses listed is the 203 mm Graflex Optar f/7.5 in a No. 2 Graphex shutter. I had the hunch, as did others, that this was a copy of the f/7.7 Ektar, perhaps through a licensing agreement with Eastman Kodak. Interesting to see that it was in fact an independent dialyte based design by Wollensak.

I don't know when Kodak stopped making the 203 mm f/7.7 Ektar. I have a Kodak "Products for the Professional" catalogue with what looks like a 1961 date code. It does not show the 203 mm f/7.7 Ektar. For large format lenses they show the f/4.7/f4.5 Ektars in 5, 7 1/2 and 12 inch focal lengths; the Commercial Ektars in 8 1/2, 10, 12 and 14 inch focal lengths. Only the 7 1/2 and 10 inch Wide Field Ektars are listed.

David