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Hello
Can anyone tell if 150mm Heliar is sutable for color photography.
I have a Crown Graphic and it has 127mm Raptar lens wich is too wide and I wonted to buy a normal 150mm lens for this camera. Many people said that the Heliar is so special.
But as far as I understood it is an uncoated lens and I shoot color. Or should I just get a modern lens like 150mm Apo lens
Thanks
There are quite a number of post-war coated Heliars in modern shutters around - as well as the Heliar types under more fancy names (lanthro--?).
They are not cheap and not always as well looked after as the pre-war Heliars. And they sometimes suffer from experiments in the introduction of synthetic cements. E**y in Germany usually has a selection.
Absolutely suitable for colour.
My uncoated Universal Heliar give e strong yellow cast to color pics which is not easy to get corrected in PS etc. so for color I prefer a modern lens or at least a single coated one!
Cheers Armin
It's going to depend on the individual lens, I suspect. I'd just check it out with fresh transparency film before purchasing, if possible. I used to have a 6x9 Bessa II with a Color-Heliar (mid-1950s, single coated), and it was fine for color.
Generally, I think Heliars look most Heliaristic when they are in the medium-long range for the format. For 4x5", if you want the "Heliar look" for portraits and still life, maybe look for a 210mm Heliar.
If it is coated and undamaged I'm sure that you will like it, color or b/w.
Lynn
I have no experience with Heliar, but my experience with uncoated Kodak Anastigmats has been very good with color film.
Quote:
Originally Posted by David A. Goldfarb
Agree with David... I used an uncoated and single coated from the '30's, and the color is very good; but that could have just been the samples I had on hand. Also, 127 to 150 isn't a huge jump...a 180 or 210 might be a more satisfactory length. That word 'Heliar' usually adds on 30% or so to the price...and there are indeed more modern lenses - including those with a refined Heliar design - that you should be able to pick up for similar price.
A little history: Heliar created by Harting of Voightlander Pat: 1900, manufactured from 1902. Dallmeyer of England made them very well as the Pentac from 1919 and often said he invented them which is certainly questionable. We think that Kodak created Lanthanum rare earth glass and started to make heliar/pentac type lenses using this new type glass and surpassed all others in the quality of these 5 element lenses in about 1930-31. The first of these was the Medalist lens, then a couple of fine quality Ektar 50mm and 75mm enlarging lenses and most of Kodak's superb apo graphic arts lenses were of this type lens. Optically they were a little hard to design and make, and when modern gausses and Rudolph's plasmats became easier to make with computer design quality, that pretty much eliminated newer heliar/pentacs.
Lynn