Restoration of Century Grand Studio, Opinions welcome!

Mark your lens is missing the Waterhouse stops(Do a search as there is a bunch of threads on the subject). In short the early lenses had a slot cut in the barrel & the lens came with a set of stops that slide in this slot. Very accurate but often missing. I got kind of lucky with this one as it has a full set. You will find that they are not difficult to make yourself. Again, do a search on Waterhouse stops Making them, calculating stops & just about any info you will need. It has already posted in a thread.

I would willing to scan them & email them to you sometime next week. This way you could use them for a template & have the original sizes in the Voigtlander set.

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Originally Posted by Mark Paschke

Yes and thanks again, I may be a lil hosed here. The "Tab" sticking out of the Voightlander must be the iris? My large lens is missing this and I notice inside the lens theres 2 screws and a bracket on opposite sides, my guess is Im missing the original iris?

Mine is a
5
Euryscop

No.32306

Voightlander & John
Braunschneig

Can I find that "iris" if thats what its missing, Im also missing lens caps but have a lens hood

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Originally Posted by Louis Pacilla

Mark your lens is missing the Waterhouse stops(Do a search as there is a bunch of threads on the subject). In short the early lenses had a slot cut in the barrel & the lens came with a set of stops that slide in this slot. Very accurate but often missing. I got kind of lucky with this one as it has a full set. You will find that they are not difficult to make yourself. Again, do a search on Waterhouse stops Making them, calculating stops & just about any info you will need. It has already posted in a thread.

I would willing to scan them & email them to you sometime next week. This way you could use them for a template & have the original sizes in the Voigtlander set.

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You're the Man! I would be in your debit!

Garret,

I defer to your expertise. Mark's lenses just look so lovely as they are.

Mark,

I didn't mean to seem discouraging. I'm sure you can make a fine bellows on your own. When you make the next photos to be made with your camera, I hope they'll be better protected than the old proofs were. Good luck, and enjoy!

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Originally Posted by Jay DeFehr

Garret,

I defer to your expertise. Mark's lenses just look so lovely as they are.

Mark,

I didn't mean to seem discouraging. I'm sure you can make a fine bellows on your own. When you make the next photos to be made with your camera, I hope they'll be better protected than the old proofs were. Good luck, and enjoy!

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Actually Jay, they look lovely because I cleaned them! they had patina and in a couple areas it wasnt the "good" patina, they cleaned up nicely but still need a little more work

Heres a before and after ( still more needed) of the lenses

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...d/IMG_1218.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...d/IMG_1235.jpg

It's a great project, Mark. Best of luck!

May I ask a question about these lenses? I've seen many posts and know many members collect and shoot with them. Does refinishing them (i.e. removing patina) adversely affect their value like it would other vintage/antique objects? Obviously I'm somewhat ignorant on the subject. ;)

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Originally Posted by bobwysiwyg

May I ask a question about these lenses? I've seen many posts and know many members collect and shoot with them. Does refinishing them (i.e. removing patina) adversely affect their value like it would other vintage/antique objects? Obviously I'm somewhat ignorant on the subject. ;)

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Interested in the opinions on this also. I tend to be conservative. I'll clean off dirt and and buff with a soft cloth, but I leave the original patina alone. No matter what you do it isn't going to make the pictures any different, so really doesn't matter very much.

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Originally Posted by bobwysiwyg

May I ask a question about these lenses? I've seen many posts and know many members collect and shoot with them. Does refinishing them (i.e. removing patina) adversely affect their value like it would other vintage/antique objects? Obviously I'm somewhat ignorant on the subject. ;)

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Im going to have to side with goamules on the issue, if (and thats a big if) the original lacquer coating is still on the lens it should never patina considering patina is caused by the elements coming into contact with the brass. Lacquer in my experience is not the toughest of stuff even in the 1800-early 1900s. Todays lacquers are even a tad bit on the wimpy side even with the advancement of chemicals.

It would take as little as a fingernail to scratch the best of lacquer off a solid brass object in perfect 65 degree weather. My guess is the photographers that owned these old lenses were careful but even careful is going to "rub" the lacquer off. Looking inside my lenses the black Paint/lacquer is slightly worn and degradinging ever so slightly and there should be no abuse inside.

My lenses arent valuble enough to worry about patina losing me money if I chose to sell them because the highest price I saw a perfect #5 Voightlander go for was $650, if these babies were worth 20k, Id really start to think about leaving them alone or go to an expert.

They look very nice polished up, they werent bad unpolished either but I could see indications of troubles had they been left another 100 years.

I have held back because other were saying sensible things! But! These lenses were not in the danger area for further tarnishing. They were a very healthy colour - showing they have been well stored the last century. The only lenses which deserve surface treatments are those that been in unheated/damp stores for decades. These have deep pits and signs of green copper oxides/carbonates and sometimes the reddish copper showing up as the zink is leached away. These will continue to deteriorate and new finishing is a good idea.

I like the way you are going about the bellows, though!

I think the wood looks fine as it is. I note a few areas of wood damage rather than darkened lacquer and crazing. If you strip and refinish, these areas - which can't be repaired - will look much more out of place.