First year Heliar's

[Bill_1856]

I don't know why the Heliar comes up whenever "soft-focus" is mentioned. In my experience, it ain't.

[Tracy Storer]

Well, there are Universal Heliars, which have the soft-focus adjustment. "Regular" Heliars, because they are fast, have shallow Dof wide open, and out-of-focus areas are rendered nicely.
But you're right, strictly speaking, NOT a soft focus lens.
My inquiries started when I discovered my 14" does not seem as sharp as my 11.75", but so far, that is subjectively based on GG view with a loupe.

I don't know why the Heliar comes up whenever "soft-focus" is mentioned. In my experience, it ain't.

[SergeiR]

I don't know why the Heliar comes up whenever "soft-focus" is mentioned. In my experience, it ain't.

it is not. They are pretty darn sharp when focused right. "smooth" but sharp.

[russyoung]

24 cm f/4.5 to f/36
D.R.P. 124954
Serial No. 132226
black in a marvelous Compound shutter, just mounts on a Canham board. Heavy!
As Serge notes above, smoooooth. Have never closed it more than two stops so cannot judge behavior when closed down further.

Russ

[Lightbender]

Heliars are just to dam expensive anymore. I would like to have one, but they are not even worth it to "keep an eye out" for category.

[c.d.ewen]

Heliars are just to dam expensive anymore. I would like to have one, but they are not even worth it to "keep an eye out" for category.

Born too late, I guess. Heck, I made money on that one I sold Bill up above.

Charley

[Scott Schroeder]

I found this thread and thought this might be of interest.
In the monthly magazine "The photo miniature" vol 5, October 1903, number 55
http://tinyurl.com/nfqyxb2
So perhaps that lot of s/n was set aside for New York and they started selling them January 1,1904

[Louis Pacilla]

I found this thread and thought this might be of interest.
In the monthly magazine "The photo miniature" vol 5, October 1903, number 55
http://tinyurl.com/nfqyxb2
So perhaps that lot of s/n was set aside for New York and they started selling them January 1,1904

Thanks for sharing.

I will say this very old and often mentioned information. Steven Tribes points this out when the subject is brought up.

[Jim Noel]

I'll be the first to discount any magic. The magic is behind the camera ~ in front of the lens. As somebody has well quoted, "it's the picture, stupid".

But for the pictures that we would choose a smoooooth-sharp lens for, a Heliar is awfully hard to beat. Even so, hold a gun to my head and tell me to choose between a Heliar, any vintage, and a Cooke Series II Portrellic, and it's the Cooke I'll keep.

Better / worse / more value / less value / I'll say, nope. The most valuable and scarce of the Heliar's seems to be the last ~ coated ones. I just like the early ones because I have the 'weird' gene.

I wish I had an early one. My 21cm, SN 3947984 is in a beautiful Compound shutter and is coated. I use it wide open mostly. It is sharp in the center and moves smoothly into the OOF areas, but I really wish I had a very early one because of their reported imaging qualities.

[Steven Tribe]

Thanks for sharing.

I will say this very old and often mentioned information. Steven Tribe points this out when the subject is brought up.

But I won't repeat myself, this time! The NY engraving differs from the Brunswick version as well!