Daguerreian Petzval Lens by John Roach

[CCHarrison]

Please see my blog post on this fairly rare Daguerreian Petzval

http://antiquecameras.net/blog.html

Thank you
Dan


http://antiquecameras.net/images/835_roach-lens1.jpg

[Steven Tribe]

Read and much appreciated!
I like the way he includes the complete formula for a Voigtländer Petzval lens, which backs up his claim of making up the lens from stratch.
I think all opticians were still making their own lenses in the 40's and 50's in the spectacle trade, although there may have been a supplier of semi-prepared "blanks"?
The brasswork looks like an import, and is very different from the other early US makers, I think.

[Petzval Paul]

Finally! I was wondering when a Roach lens would surface. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I would love to see some images made with it!

[Petzval Paul]

By the way, the engraving looks almost exactly like Palmer & Longking's.

[CCHarrison]

Thanks Steven

As I wrote in the blog post, I think the barrel is from Voigtlander or from whoever supplied Voigtlander their barrels. Almost all lenses (barrels and glass) in the US prior to 1850 were European imports and featured tangential drives.. Even early CC Harrison lenses (under 1000) feature tangetial drives and appear European - see this link http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1380786 and this link http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4347982

Dan

[pierre506]

Knowledgeable! !!

[goamules]

Wow, the old clipping about Roach providing lenses to Morse and Wolcott was something I didn't know. Great find, congratulations!