Opinions On Old, er, Classic Lenses Sought - Pick 5!

[Richard K.]

To the magnificent and knowledgeable denizens of this invigorating forum. If my praise is lavish, it is because you deserve it, being not only handsome or beautiful but brilliant and vital too. OK, have I sucked up enough to get some responses? And, don't blame me - it's already kinda winter here and I'm just getting ready to try to not lose my mind. Anyway, thanks to several of you, I have compiled a list of desirable Brass or slightly newer lenses (sorry about any speeling mistakes):

1.) Darlot Petzval
2.) Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear (or Steinheil)
3.) A Wide Angle rapid rectilinear Eg. Neuhring 125mm
4.) Cooke Series XV triple convertible
5.) Heliar
6.) A long-ish Artar (I have a 35” RDA)
7.) A short-ish Cooke Series V process lens
8.) A Verito
9.) A Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality
10.) A Cooke Series IIa Portric Knuckler
11.) Darlot Hemispherique Extra-Rapide
12.) Globe Wide Angle
13.) Grubb-C lens,
14.) Harrison & Schnitzer American Globe
15.) Protar
16.)Tessar / Xenar / Dagor



Just TWO questions:

1.) Any notable omissions?
2.) If you could have 5 of these, which 5 would you pick? Or, if you (lucky you!) HAVE 5, which 5 would you keep if you had to trim down to 5?
3.) If you are Jim G. which of the above DON'T you have ?

Feel free to annotate your responses!

Thanks a million!

[Emil Schildt]

why "Darlot" Petzval? I like (read love) my Hermagis Petzval better then my Darlot.. (maybe because I LOVE to pronounce the word ;-))

In my dreams I have a couple you don't have.

Nicola Perscheid portrait lens.
Kodak Portrait lens
Universal Heliar (I know you mention Heliar, but the universal is something special (?))

to your second question: I have more than 5, so I am left to dream......

[Toyon]

You should post a survey. Much easier to compile the data.

[Richard K.]

You should post a survey. Much easier to compile the data.

Ah, good idea!

[Dan Fromm]

Um, Richard, put your trowel away. Or use a much smaller one.

I can't speak for others. I buy lenses to use, and to use for a purpose. I can't find a rational basis for choice between, say, most tessars (in the broad sense) and a 35" RDA. I'm not into lens abuse, much prefer sharp images to fuzzy ones. So I find your question (choose one) (a) silly (b) badly posed.

FWIW, I've picked the three high performance macro lenses I'll use until film goes away. And I have more or less the lenses I need in longer focal lengths. If I can ever get my 2x3 Baby Bertha working well, I may look seriously at getting a 48" lens. But for now I have very nearly the kit I want. What's in it? Doesn't matter, IMO all good lenses of the same focal length that have "enough" coverage are functionally equivalent.

Cheers,

Dan

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I agree with Dan, these lenses are too different to choose from. What are your goals for asking?

[Richard K.]

You're undoubtedy right Dan. I was just wondering which classic lenses people have/like. The purpose? Just idle curiosity and partially to connect with the past. There was not really a motivation to compare in any rigorous qualitative sense (I realize that that's impossible) or to choose among (rank), but just to see what people have acquired, enjoy and have an attachment to (my goals for asking).

[BarryS]

I have the following from your list--

Darlot Petzvals-- These are great, high quality Petzvals and sometimes they can still be had for good prices. Not super swirly, but sharp and well made. I like the Darlots, but they aren't much different from any decent Petzval.

Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear-- I have a 10x12 Dallmeyer and really like it for portraits. Very smooth and sharp look, these are probably under-rated.

Heliar-- I like the Heliar, but it's not a favorite. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get my studio camera because these are very heavy lenses.

Verito-- This is fun to use, and I like the classic soft focus effect. I'm looking forward to doing some gum print portraits with my Verito. As we've seen on the forum, there are a lot of roads to soft-focus images.

Tessar/Xenar -- Got a couple of these--like them fine.

My ongoing projects use grubby projection Petzvals for film and big Petzval Portrait lenses for wet plate, but I'm opening a portrait studio space, so I'll have more of a chance to use some of these lenses as they were intended. I don't think I'm attached to any lens in particular--or maybe I'm attached to all of them, since they're not for sale.

[eddie]

i posted other #s on the other thread.....two are running.

yes, you forgot voigtlander petzvals.......i sell the darlots, they are worth more. i shoot with voigtlanders, they shoot better.

[goamules]

I, too, can speak more about designs, not makers because with most of the early designs you won't see much difference in who made it. What's the difference between numbers 12 and 14? Is a Darlot better than a Hermagis or a Dallmeyer? Not to me. Really, you can consolidate your list quite a bit, unless the purpose is collecting. Nothing wrong with that, I collect some too.

I like petzvals and wide angle rectilinears right now the most. I'd like a quality soft focus too, besides the Verito.

Garrett