Arne Croell, are you acquainted with this FSU lens?

[Dan Fromm]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BPO-1-300-VRO-1-300mm-f-5-6-Large-Format-Lens-USSR-Russian-Soviet-MINT-/251282367002?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3a8198a21a

I couldn't find it in your list.

Cheers,

Dan

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Apparently this is a repro lens made for use in electrophotographic copiers (whatever one of those is)

The only info I have on this is this datasheet, it's in Russian, so I can't read it but the diagram shows a symmetrical plasmat, so it's likely to be a Soviet equivalent to the G-Claron I suppose. Made in 1991-2 in small numbers (which is why the serial is only 4 digits).

http://img15.allegroimg.pl/photos/oryginal/32/81/72/04/3281720459

http://img15.allegroimg.pl/photos/oryginal/32/81/72/04/3281720459_1

Last one I saw for sale was only 40USD but shipping was as much as the cost of the lens.

[Dan Fromm]

Ian, thanks for the reply. Electrophotographic copier = Xerox machine, I think.

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Yes, I think so too, but the vagaries of Google's Russian-English translation and all that jazz...

[Arne Croell]

Thanks, Dan and Ian for the link and the copy, respectively. I find it a little strange that it has a regular aperture if its a Xerox lens - Xerox lenses are usually fixed aperture, at lest in the West. I'll work my way through the document Ian provided and will augment my list.

Arne

[Arne Croell]

Also, the company logo does not look familar to me (use the zoom on the first image in the ebay ad to see it on the rim of the barrel). It looks like an achromatic meniscus built into a "B" letter. The achromatic meniscus is used by Belomo in Belorussia, but since we are talking cyrillic letters, this company should start with a "V" ("B" in Cyrillic) and not a b as in belomo. Anybody familiar with that logo?

[Ian Greenhalgh]

I noticed the logo too, I've never seen it before and I couldn't find any other instance of it when I looked.

I agree it's strange about the iris if it was for a copier.

[Dan Fromm]

About lenses for Xerox machines with diaphragms, many of the B&L lenses extracted from Xerox machines have 'em.

[rdenney]

Also, the company logo does not look familar to me (use the zoom on the first image in the ebay ad to see it on the rim of the barrel). It looks like an achromatic meniscus built into a "B" letter. The achromatic meniscus is used by Belomo in Belorussia, but since we are talking cyrillic letters, this company should start with a "V" ("B" in Cyrillic) and not a b as in belomo. Anybody familiar with that logo?

That was the first place I looked, too. I know what it's not, but I don't know what it is. Even the serial number arrangement seems atypical for the Soviets.

If it was made for a Xerox-type machine, then it was a big machine. At 1:1, the paper on the glass platen woul have to be four feet from the drum. I'm not familiar with usual focal lengths fpor copy machines, but it seems this one would need a lot of mirrors to fit in a reasonably sized machine, even from decades back.

I wonder if it was used for some other kind of copy process, such as in a dedicated process camera. Notice how the fact sheet includes the angle of view for each aperture. It would seem those angles of view are limited to an assumed performance that the lens does not attain wide open. The apparent symmetry suggests 1:1 optimization, and also excellent correction of geometric distortion.

Rick "too big for his Sinar shutter" Denney

[Dan Fromm]

Rick, those B&L lenses from Xerox machines were 8 1/4" inchers, stopped down to f/11 or so.

[Arne Croell]

I translated sections 2.1 and 2.2. the old fashioned way (using a dictionary) from Russian to German, and it is indeed a photocopying lens:

2: Purpose of the good
2.1 The lens is intended for use in an electrophotographic copying apparatus
2.2 The lens gives the opportunity to produce images from hatched black and white originals with fine structures
(2.3 deals with climate tests)

The table 2 on page 3 does not give image angles; those are the angles that the aperture ring needs to be turned by for the aperture given (i.e. its a nonlinear aperture scale). The image circle (section 3.3.) at 1:1 is given as 692mm, which is equivalent to 60° coverage. The resolution is 15/mm (probably linepairs /mm))

692mm image circle would be enough for an A3 (paper size) copier including the capability to enlarge A4 to A3 or vice versa.

[Struan Gray]

My guess is that it's for copying blueprints and/or engineering drawings. Should have low distortion. Might be best with monochromatic light.

Just possibly, it might work in the UV.

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Cheers Arne.