Does anyone know anything about Voigtländer WZ f. 9 18cm? I assume that it is a soft-focus lens but how is it compared to a Rodenstock Imagon? Does anyone have any photo made with a Voigtländer WZ?
I also wonder if someone have some information about a H. Roussel & L. Berteau, Wide Angle No 1, serie D? Age? Sample photos?
The W.Z. is something of an oddity - a soft focus enlarger lens! It is (and was?) more popular as a taking lens, but was really made for enlarging. It's a simple Periskop, two simple meniscii arranged around a central stop. This gives spherical and chromatic aberration that improves with stopping down - and the aperture is marked in mm opening, not some "odd" aperture numbers.
The abbreviation W.Z. is more likely to be for Walter Zilly, a photographer who worked closely with Voigtländer at the time, than "Weichzeichner" ("soft focus").
I haven't got around to trying mine yet, but plan to give it a go with both uses.
The Roussel I know nothing about at the moment - I'm in the middle of the North Sea again.
I've taken a couple 5x7 negatives using the Voigtlander WZ 18cm, f9 (mine is in barrel). Overall, it's pretty mushy with low contrast and hasn't given me much desire to experiment more with it, compared to a Petzval or projection triplet, for example. Sorry I don't have scans, but my scanner capabilities are very limited!
Just a short "raising from the dead" for this thread.
The "WZ" does stand for Weichzeichner - I have seen this in many catalogues from Voigtländer and their retailers.
H. Roussel & L. Berteau are engraved on at least types of lenses.
1. A nice casket set.
2. An 18x24 RR.
3. Wide angled - labeled as series D. Apart from the original poster with his size 1, I have seen a 2 and a 3 size. Probably for 9x12, 13x18 and 18x24. All have these have surfaced in Sweden!
A little more information about Roussel and Berteau!
Another lens engraved by these makers/dealers has appeared, like the others, in Sweden. This supports my earlier idea that all these lenses must have been displayed/sold at a photographic event in Stockholm late in the 19th Century.
There is a similar suggestion here, which I must have read "long ago".
Note that this lens is an addition to the lenses mentioned here. The lens has a large stenciled "M9" in red paint on the reverse side which, perhaps, makes sense in an exhibition display?
My theory is that there was one of every "model" on display. Everyone of the found lenses is different. This last one is a Dallmeyer-like Petzval (with a unique spacing design for the rear cell) about F5 and EFL around 42cm.
Last edited by Steven Tribe; 11-May-2017 at 04:27.
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