help with Dall. Soft Focus Portrait Anastigmat

[Tim Meisburger]

I am trying to disassemble a Dallmeyer Soft Focus Portrait Anastigmat to clean between the two forward lens elements. Here is the lens:


I was able to completely disassemble the rear group. Here is a picture of the lens with the rear group removed:



Can someone who has one of these post a picture of the front group disassembled? I think I can make a circular vise and wrench set to get this apart, but want to know for sure where the joints are.

Alternatively, please recommend a lens repair shop that can disassemble this.

Best, Tim

[Tim Meisburger]

Nobody has one? This must be the rarest soft focus lens in the world, worth a fortune!

[Steven Tribe]

There is a previous thread on the triplet Dallmeyer (proably yours!) which doesn't appear to have sold very well. I suppose the Cooke variants had cornered the market by the time this appeared.
I expect it is the same same basic construction as the Heliar Universal and Soft Cooke series II and VI.

[Tim Meisburger]

Thanks Steven. I've googled the heck out of it but cannot seem to find much information on it. I do have the impression some people think it is a copy of the cooke. It is heavy as hell, but in pretty good shape, and might be a nice lens if I can clean it up. Why oh why did these lens designers not include flats for wrenches...

[Steven Tribe]

The Cooke series IIE (perhaps some other II's as well) do have slots in the front lens for wrenches.

[Tim Meisburger]

Ha! Got it apart. Cut the diameter of one part in a 1x4, split it, then clamped it round the lens to hold that part, then did the same in a longer piece of wood to make a wrench to turn it. Funny, or confusing, thing is it had reverse threads. The grease in it had deteriorated into some sort of black glue. No wonder so many lenses are stuck. Anyway, I can now "Turn for Soft Focus"!

[Steven Tribe]

Well done, Tim!

[Tim Meisburger]

Thanks Stephen. This is a fascinating lens. You can search all over the internet, and there is almost no information for this model, and no pictures. The cool think is that for soft focus there are no numbers at all, and the amount of diffusion is unlimited. You just unscrew the front element as much as you want. I counted potentially 19 complete turns yielding an element separation of more than half an inch at maximum. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a flange, but I'll figure some way to mount it, and am really looking forward to trying it out. I'll post my findings.

Now if I could just figure out how to unfreeze the soft focus on the 3B...

[Tim Meisburger]

Damn, if only I could read that. I need one of them thar slim belly patches...

[goamules]

Glad you got the lens working. Yeah, they're pretty unknown, at least to me. But Dallmeyer only made excellent glass, so it should be a great lens.

I was unfreezing some stuff this weekend, with CLP Breakfree, which you used to get in the gun section of Walmart. You do have walmats in Thailand right? If not, try some banana oil or something!