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View Full Version : Caltar II S 135mm F5.6 a convrtible?



koh303
20-Apr-2014, 13:23
I have just looked up close at a lens i have been playing around with for a while and just noticed a second aperture line.
One is a scale for 135mm F5.6 and right above it is another scale for 400mm F14. So - which of the elements creates the 400mm focal legnth - the front or the real?

Carsten Wolff
20-Apr-2014, 13:31
I have just looked up close at a lens i have been playing around with for a while and just noticed a second aperture line.
One is a scale for 135mm F5.6 and right above it is another scale for 400mm F14. So - which of the elements creates the 400mm focal legnth - the front or the real?
Keep the front one screwed in. This lens is a rebadged Rodenstock Sironar.

koh303
20-Apr-2014, 13:33
Scratch that - just read this:
http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/00FL9i

Looks like the front cell gives about 400mm but not as sharp.

Paul Ewins
21-Apr-2014, 05:05
Are you sure it's not a Caltar S-II? I don't believe there was ever a Caltar II-S. The Calumet naming conventions are very confusing and in between the Caltar Type Y, Caltar Type S, Caltar II-N and Caltar II-E which (from memory) were all made by Rodenstock there is the Caltar-S II which was made by Schneider and was a rebadged Symmar-S. If it is a Caltar-S II then the second focal length would probably be 235mm f12, although the Symmar-S wasn't optimised to be convertible. If it is just a plain Type-S then the diagnosis of Rodenstock Sironar and 400f14 would be correct. BTW there is also a Series S Caltar and a Caltar Pro as well although I think they may have been from Ilex.