9.5 inch velostigmat

[C. D. Keth]

Has anyone used a 9.5 inch velostigmat before? I found one in a store in PA for $230 and I was wondering if I should pounce, or pounce with some negotiation. I haven't seen this length go on ebay very often. It's in a good working alphax #4.

[Aaron van de Sande]

velostigmat is a generic name so it is hard to say what the lens actually is. Knowing the aperture size and any other lens markings might help somewhat

[C. D. Keth]

I don't ahev the lens in front of me so I can't get all the markings. I do remember it was an f4.5 and the scale went up to 64.

I think it's very similar to this ebay listing except the one I found is 9.5 inch focal length.

[BradS]

Seems like the asking price is about twice the actual value - and that's assuming it's in pretty good condition.

[Jim Galli]

The 9.5 was the smallest of the Velostigmat's that had an additional feature if purchased of a diffusion control at the front with numbers 0 through 5. 0 being no diffusion and 5 being quite diffused. If it's one that has that I'd pay $230 for it. They can be really nice on a 5X7 for portraits with that. Very nice wide open without it but it's fun to play with if it's there. For reference, the portrait and other pictures made with the 12" Velostigmat on my web site were done without the diffusion in use.

[Mark Sampson]

It's basically a Tessar-formula lens. After 1945 or so they were called "Raptars", and were coated. I had an uncoated 12" Velo on an 8x10 long ago and it was sharp- I was able to make a few enlargements that looked very good- but the contrast was low compared to a coated lens, and any kind of backlight was deadly. I suppose those two things are common to any uncoated lens. BTW, that lens was made in Rochester- you can still see the old Wollensak Optical building on Hudson Ave., if you want to visit the rough side of town.