How many Voightlander #7 lenses?

[Jac@stafford.net]

How many Voightlander #7 lenses?

Forgive, I am not an expert. Looking at, for example, the 'bay offerings there two, perhaps three different Voightlander '7' lenses and I know there is another, a Portrait 7. How to differentiate, please?

[Mark Sawyer]

Voigtlander's first Series is the Portrait Petzval, and comes in a size 7. It's other Series are all Euryscops; the Series II, IV, and VII come in size 7, and the Series III and VI come in size 7a. There's also a no-series Wide Angle Euryscop and a Landscape Lens that come in size 7. All are of different focal lengths and apertures, of course...

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I have a #7 Petzval circa 1877.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Voigtlander's first Series is the Portrait Petzval, and comes in a size 7. It's other Series are all Euryscops; the Series II, IV, and VII come in size 7, and the Series III and VI come in size 7a. There's also a no-series Wide Angle Euryscop and a Landscape Lens that come in size 7. All are of different focal lengths and apertures, of course...

Thank you, Mark.
So, size 7 does not indicate focal length or aperture. What does the number indicate? Price point? Weight? Coverage? I'm puzzled.

[Dan Fromm]

Jac, its an old convention. Some, not all, lens makers used to designate lenses by series and by number within series. Series sometimes, not always, corresponded to design type.

Lens number corresponds to focal length within series. There's no relationship between a manufacturers' numbers across series and there's no relationship between numbers between manufacturers. For most makers, a higher number indicates a longer focal length. For most. Hermagis (later Berthiot) Eidoscopes' number decrease as focal length increases.

In short, there were no rules and the rules weren't enforced.

[Steven Tribe]

Apart the usual numerals, a couple of makers made some smaller versions using 0 and 00 to meet demand for smaller formats. Hermagis used 0 and 00, but in this case they meant super large and enormous, respectively! A numeral followed by bis was universal accepted as an intermediate size. This means a longer focal length than the given numeral has. Of course, for Hermagis the bis means a shorter focal length.

The early Voigtlander Petzvals, at least, did not have size (Numerals) anywhere and the dimensions have to checked in catalogues to give the makers size number.

7a models only existed until Voigtlander started to indicate Euryscope series on the lens, as the source of confusion had been removed!

[Mark Sawyer]

In short, there were no rules and the rules weren't enforced.

Pretty much. Wollensak changed the numbering of the Vitax sizes from "1, 2, 3" to "3, 4, 5" in mid production to match the lens size to the Studio Shutter size. So a #3 Vitax can be either the smallest or the largest.

Either way, the early Voigtlander 7s currently on ebay have been there a while, and are all overpriced.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Either way, the early Voigtlander 7s currently on ebay have been there a while, and are all overpriced.

I am not tempted, but that is good to know. The 'Bay is like watching fishermen. There is a thin line between a fisherman and an idiot dangling a stick over a puddle. The dreamers for over-priced lenses are the idiots. I wonder about the buyers in the puddle, but imagination fails.