I recently purchased an 8x10 Turner-Reich Convertible Series II Anastigmat on the cheap to scavenge its Alphax shutter. Surprisingly, I found the lens in beautiful shape with coated glass and no sign of separation. Not at all what I expected.
So rather than immediately scavenging the shutter and trashing the glass, I have decided to give the lens a try. I spent a bit of time today just playing with it on an 8x10, examining the ground glass with a good loupe. The lens is respectably sharp, even when converted, and shows no sign (by eye) of focus shift. This is certainly more than I need for contact prints.
Dissapointment came when I realized that its image circle with both elements in place (12.4"/315mm) is really quite tight on 8x10. I would guess that the lens covers 14"/360mm at f22, just under 60 degrees (no filters or rings attached). The individual elements (19", 25") illuminate quite a bit more, but I don't know how much of the circle is sharp.
Can any Turner-Reich user out there shed some light on this? Are your TR lenses tight on their slated formats?
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