Goerz 124mm f/6.8 Serie III Dagor with Waterhouse Slot from a Kodak Panoram

[jcoldslabs]

I'm posting this here because I could find almost no information on the Web about this lens. Any additional info would be appreciated. For example, were there other early Dagors that took Waterhouse stops?

A friend recently loaned me a 4" x 12" Kodak Panoram--not sure which model number--which came fitted with the Dagor pictured below. I believe Kodak offered this lens as a premium option because the typical Panoram lens was either a rapid rectilinear or meniscus.


http://www.kolstad.us/ebay/124mm-DAGOR-01.jpg



http://www.kolstad.us/ebay/124mm-DAGOR-02.jpg

Jonathan

[Struan Gray]

I have one. It illuminates my 4x5 ground glass, but I've never used it for a real neg.

Lenses in 'sunken' mounts were quite common on travel cameras, and the focal length would fit with a 9x12 or 4x5 hand camera. Several of these had focal plane shutter curtains, so the lack of a built in shutter would not be an issue. Quite how you were supposed to access the Waterhouse slot if it was inside the camera I don't know, but I wasn't uncommon for amateur cameras to work at a single aperture for walkabout snaps.

[jcoldslabs]

Indeed, the Panoram has two built-in shutter speeds and is primarily designed to be shot outdoors in bright light. For the first photos I took with the camera I used the f/11 stop and the slowest shutter speed, and the resulting negatives looked really good. Changing the stop is a hassle, requiring the unscrewing of the lens from the camera, but if one is shooting outdoors in unchanging daylight conditions there would be little reason to change stops during a single outing.

Here is one of the photos taken with this lens. I apologize for the poor quality of the digital file; I had to photograph the 12" wide negative on a light box because it was too big for my scanner.


http://www.kolstad.us/ebay/Panoram-02-r3.jpg

Jonathan

[Struan Gray]

That's rather cool. My lens was inherited from a lab, where it was paired with a contemporary 1890s tailboard camera (with a jury-rig press-fit mounting rather than a threaded ring) for taking photos of oscilloscope screens. Definitely not it's original purpose :-)

I always intended to use the thing, but the film holders I have for the tailboard leak light, and regular holders don't fit properly. Too many other projects.....

[goamules]

I found a Dagor series III once in what I called a "submarine periscope", but was some unknown type of optical equipment. I was about to throw the device away, when I thought I saw lettering around the lens rim, deep inside the thing.

[E. von Hoegh]

I think some of the early series IV process Dagors were fitted for Waterhouse stops. Due to the lens mounting in that particular camera, there's no room for an iris.

What a nice outfit!

[Steven Tribe]

Series III were also used as the central lens in "box" enlargers which were sold with Goerz's later small format pocket cameras.

[jcoldslabs]

What a nice outfit!

It really is. I'm lucky to have it land in my lap, even as a loaner. Later this week I hope to find the motivation to cut some more film down to load the spools.

I am consistently amazed at how well many 100+ year-old cameras and lenses work. I can even get images from 70 year-old film. Talk about mature and durable technology.

Jonathan

[Michael Cienfuegos]

Jamie Young knows quite a bit about the Kodak Panoram cameras. You might contact him for more information.

[jcoldslabs]

Thanks, Michael. Here is the link for future reference:

http://www.jamieyoungphoto.com/cameras%20panoram%201.html

It looks like mine is the 4D model.

Jonathan

[E. von Hoegh]

It really is. I'm lucky to have it land in my lap, even as a loaner. Later this week I hope to find the motivation to cut some more film down to load the spools.

I am consistently amazed at how well many 100+ year-old cameras and lenses work. I can even get images from 70 year-old film. Talk about mature and durable technology.

Jonathan

Yes, there's something I find very alluring about using the old lenses, and old technology in general. I have a set of Dagors I use on 4x5 and 8x10, dating from 1924~ back to 1905~ with most of them clustered about 1906-8 for some reason. It always amazes me what beautiful results they give when I do my part.