Longest Crown Graphic Portrait Lens?

[Ole Tjugen]

Dan, you've missed the first Schneider Symmars - the triple convertibles.

And the Zeiss Amatar, which was made for a few years between the exipry of the patent and the aquisition of Goerz. Oddly enough I far prefer my Amatar to my Dagors...

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi Dan,

You covered most of them BUT ;
Kern, Switzerland (but they were licensed by Schiender)
B&J , bought the old stock and sold them as 'Berlin Dagor'
the 'joker in the deck'

(**Only my recollection of an article in View Camera a dozen years ago of the 'history of lenses' by Lynn Jones**)

Apparently Zeiss sold their interest in the Goerz name to a company on Long Island, New York that subleted the grinding and assembled the parts and sold them as 'Goerz Dagor' with or without gold rims. Spotty quality control and questionable image quality.

I guess this many years, makers and 'flies in the ointment' explains the variable quality of "Dagor's", from stellar to dogs.

Finished checking the other lenses:

241/4.5 raptar = 32.5"
254/4.5 raptar = 35" and smaller image than 241
381 tele-raptar = 90"

these need a front mounted flange, the mounting ring is too large to fit thru the light baffle. None will close up.

Have fun with it

[andy bessette]

Thanks Paul,

andy

[Dan Fromm]

Paul, I mentioned Kern. AFAIK they weren't licensed, they were a subcontractor.

I refuse to count B&J as a lens manufacturer. Assembler of elements already made, yes, lens grinder no.

Lynn Jones is a real puzzle. He's done many good things, has known many people, knew and still knows a hell of a lot. In all, he's been a powerful force for good. He's been posting for the last couple of years on photo.net. Some of the posts there give the impression that he's somewhat addled. I hope this isn't the case.

One of my friends, formerly closely associated with Boyer, has told me very pointedly that Dagors are very sensitive to cell spacing. So let's add another reason why not all Dagors perform as expected. Poor remounts.

And then there are the f/6.8 Goerz Doppel Anastigmats that well-meaning (?) ignoramuses sell as Dagors. Pays to be careful, Goerz also made dialyte type f/6.8 double anastigmats.

Cheers,

Dan