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Tim, I've watched them for a while, and if they're in equal condition, all the Dallmeyer 3B's seem equal in value. Big fast high-quality Petzvals with a wonderful history never seem to go out of...

These always bug me, empty lens barrels. Wouldn't be hard to pop some sort of achromat in them...

Spencer Port-Land 15-inch barrel, $123.50

Spencer Port-Land 11.5-inch barrel, $90.00

http://home.earthlink.net/~garrettoallen/B-S_collodion_kit_18feb2011.pdf

That's just Calkovsky, seven different listings in less than a month. Good lens, bad seller.

There was a high-end American 35mm, the Kodak Ektra, but it was a financial flop. The medium format Medalist did a little better...

Après la Guerre…
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Owen21k/Apreslaguerres_zps80b28f03.jpg

Great traditions make for great portraits! I think the camera found a good home...

What lens was that?

A few other things that had impacts on the lens makers:

In the post-WWII years, one of the biggest impacts on European and American makers was the very fast development of the Japanese optics and...

It may well be one of the most wonderful soft Pictorialist lenses ever made, but that doesn't mean that's what it was made for. Dallmeyer was more interested in "spreading the depth of field" than...

I'd like to suggest the posts in this sub-forum not show up under New Posts, if that's possible. It seems that the information is important only when someone is buying or selling from a particular...

As you're working with a Chamonix camera and Chamonix holder, I'd consider asking Chamonix for a properly made holder. It's a standardized dimension they got significantly wrong, and at what the...

...and delicious!

Thanks, all! Gotta love pixies... ♥♥♥

Deep in the Enchanted Broccoli Forest...
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Owen21k/TheEnchantedBroccoliForests_zps3db724ee.jpg

I have a 12-inch f/4.5 Rembrandt Portrait that's just a single-coated Tessar. It's a nice Tessar, but just a Tessar. It's the slower "Super Rembrandt" that might qualify as a soft focus lens. I've...

I suspect it's a double-gauss, and would be a very nice sharp portrait lens. It has no particular relation with the Heliar, though.

As I understand it, a great deal depends on your lens. What you're really talking about with the IR-Visible-UV spectrum is chromatic aberration, which is corrected in different ways and to different...

Thanks, everyone, but I was just the technical adviser on this one.

The reason the lens doesn't show much swirl is that this is a smaller 5x6 plate, and the lens covers 8x10 at this distance, so...

For a simple lens design, like a Landscape lens, more curved field and increased coma. Whatever lens you're using may have enough corrections designed in to compensate, at least to a degree.

Congratulations, Jim! You done that old camera proud! And I bet the rest of Tonopah gets a big kick out of it!

The article's quote about finding Sheelor's old platform was a spine-tingle. If...

Take the back off your camera and lay a rigid straight edge across the frame. Measure the distance to the ground glass.

Next, put a film-holder in with an old sheet of film. Make the same...

I want it back the way it was. It was like seeing it through a Pinkham & Smith Semi-Achromat. Series II, I believe... :(

I knew I'd forget one or two! :) But such designs are rare...

Trying to remember any others... :confused:

There are similarities between designs, especially if you shuffle the element order around, but the Plasmat was a very direct descendant of the Dagor. I wouldn't call the Tessar a "modified...

A few friends dropped by yesterday afternoon and did a few 5x6-inch backyard tintypes just for fun. The lens had arrived in the mail that morning, and I'd just spent a couple of hours cleaning it,...

Some edgier thoughts off the top of my head...

E. J. Bellocq's Storyville Portraits are spectacular and largely overlooked because of the subject matter.

Diane Arbus' portraits of people...

That f/4.8 Acuton is a 215mm, and covers 8x10, so you've got serious movements on 4x5! The f/6.8 210mm Dagor also covers 8x10, but my early uncoated one is soft in the corners, while my later...

I cast my vote for the hand colored image as well. I presume the print was not as warm-toned as the uncolored version immediately above it?

Just a note that the Plasmat was also known as the "Air-Spaced Dagor" when introduced. The separation in a Plasmat of the cemented surfaces in a Dagor allow the surfaces to have slightly different...

Clean it well and re-assemble it carefully, and don't disassemble it again unless really necessary, (which should be almost never.) On touchy cases like this, I always rotate the lens...

B& J re-worked used and old-stock lenses, so a lot were one-off's. I have a 16" f/4.5 Cooke Portrait lens they re-worked, and I'm pretty sure it's the only one of those around. There was also the...

I couldn't say for sure if it's coated or just photographed under lights of different color temperatures, but yeah, it sure looks like it might be,

Another idle speculation: Burke & James...

Ahh, the classic wet plate posing chair with head-brace! :)

Nice plate, nice composition!

The slanted rack teeth visible in the third image are unusual. Does anyone know of any manufacturer who made such a focusing drive?

I don't know. Making a fake would hardly be a cost-effective...

I presume you've notified ebay of the theft of your property, and it's still being offered for sale? If so, I would suggest you file suit against ebay too. Ebay obviously has very deep pockets and...

Interesting to hear about familiar lenses in a different culture. I knew the Universal Heliar was revered in Japan, but didn't know it is still referred to as the "King Lens" because it photographed...

Odd indeed. A quick search showed the "..& Sohn" engraving as far back as Voigtlander's 1840 all-metal camera.

Hey, World Wet Plate Day fell on Star Wars Day...

"May the Fourth be with you..."

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Owen21k/Maythefourths_zps31d3cdc8.jpg

Probably a pretty good performer and useful on 4x5 without movements, but not worth much as these are very common. Could be a taking, enlarging, or process lens, as all were made by Bausch & Lomb in...

And every word is true! :rolleyes:

Fun embellishments aside, he's very knowledgeable about lenses, and when you get one from him, you'll usually know its history, design, strong points, and...