A new (but old!) Pictorial lens?

[Steven Tribe]

This was ebay 121328143486. This is an F4 Portrait lens made by Wauckosin & Company Frankfurt Germany using the trademark "WARA". In basic physical structure it looks exactly like a Plasticca. It is the same focal length of the largest lens (500mm) made by some the lookalike lenses made after production of the Plasticca was discontinued.

Like the Plasticca it has no iris. There are two separate lenses (I think) and the rear mounting (for the yellow filter)looks a lot like the Plasticca. It weighs rather more than the Plasticca does, so perhaps it is a Periscope design.

Wauckosin had an association with Plaubel in Frankfurt with his lenses (WARA again) being on some early Plaubel cameras. Otherwise there is no information I could find. Can't be a lot of these around. The serial number is odd - 16006 - perhaps the others are 16001 - 16005!

[Steven Tribe]

I thought I would add a couple of images before they drop out of ebay.

[Amedeus]

Nice find !

[Mark Sawyer]

I had a "curiosity" bid in on it, but fell a bit short. With no aperture control and such a short barrel, I'm not sure this lens is complete, but it might very well be a Plasticca-type meniscus; that it's engraved "Portrait Objectiv" is very promising! It could be a rare and wonderful lens, or an interesting paperweight. A quick check of the focal length will tell the new owner in seconds. Did you buy it, Steven? If so, good luck and keep us informed!

[Steven Tribe]

I was in with a bid too, but well under the winning bid!
Tried to get a BIN price very early in the auction (in a legit way!) but he said he was selling for a third party! I was very interested, but over $400 is not sensible for a lens for "playing with". My guess is still a periscope due to weight.

[Jim Galli]

I had it on the watch list also, but the pictures were so poor I thought it was just groups from a petzval missing the center barrel section. Usually a Portrait Objectiv is just a petzval after petzval's weren't cool anymore.

[Steven Tribe]

Well, Voigtländer over in Braunschweig had been calling their Euryskops II and III "Portrait" for decades. I can't see a part-Petzval in this lens.

[Geoffrey_5995]

Hi Steven, I bought the lens. It is much like a Plasticca. I have another one of these but 600mm and need to dig it out and compare with this 500mm. I'll check the construction and serial number and report back. This lens is complete and has an achromat in the front and no yellow filter but a negative single meniscus in the rear, so it's not periscopic. My guess is this lens was intended for 8x10 portraits as the Oscar Zwierzina ads indicate the 18" / 450mm for full plate so 500mm / 20" would most likely be intended for 8x10 according to this reasoning. Attached is a quick study made with this lens on 8x10 wet plate collodion. It does behave much like a Plasticca. I'll need to practice more with it and take into account the shallow depth of field and in ability to stop it down when posing my subjects as both eyes are clearly not in focus, though this is a sough after effect times. I think it could also work better with a lens shade to increase contrast. I could also pull back a bit though I generally like getting in close. 115162

Geoff

[pierre506]

Hi Steven, I bought the lens. It is much like a Plasticca. I have another one of these but 600mm and need to dig it out and compare with this 500mm. I'll check the construction and serial number and report back. This lens is complete and has an achromat in the front and no yellow filter but a negative single meniscus in the rear, so it's not periscopic. My guess is this lens was intended for 8x10 portraits as the Oscar Zwierzina ads indicate the 18" / 450mm for full plate so 500mm / 20" would most likely be intended for 8x10 according to this reasoning. Attached is a quick study made with this lens on 8x10 wet plate collodion. It does behave much like a Plasticca. I'll need to practice more with it and take into account the shallow depth of field and in ability to stop it down when posing my subjects as both eyes are clearly not in focus, though this is a sough after effect times. I think it could also work better with a lens shade to increase contrast. I could also pull back a bit though I generally like getting in close. 115162

Geoff

Lucky guy~

[Steven Tribe]

I was 95% sure it was you, Geoff - but didn't check your ebay "total" standing!
A negative at the rear doesn't surprise me.
More information would be delightful along the way, as there is nothing available at the moment.

[Geoffrey_5995]

I have a soft spot for Plasticcas in any form, every pun intended. I'll dig out the 600mm and make the comparison and provide any information I find. I'm also curious to test this 500mm without the negative rear glass as it makes the lens approximately 20% longer. I was also unsure if this lens was complete as it was described so poorly and with very few good pictures. It did look to me that the rear glass was missing but I figured it was the yellow filter that was missing and no big deal as I generally shoot without it anyway. I was quite surprise to discover the rear glass intact and that it is actually an optical design feature of the lens which makes it different optically from the Plasticca. My guess is that Oscar Zwierzina manufactured the lens for Wauckosin / Wara as they were a distributor/retailer in Germany not unlike Burke & James in the USA. It's also possible that another firm purchased Oscar Zwierzina and sold these portrait lenses through Wauckosin. Still trying to find out more about this connection and any history of Plasticca lenses.

[Steven Tribe]

I don't have my notes here, but Oscar appears to have left Dresden in a hurry (for Switzerland? - there are patent applications there by him in the late 30's) and let his friend/competitor O. Simon carry on the production in Dresden.

[Geoffrey_5995]

I was aware of the O. Simon Kronar / Kronarette connection but curious as to where it went from there. Still so much to discover.

[Geoffrey_5995]

Steven, I was able to find my 600mm / f4 Wauckosin. It has the serial #16034. It has a rear single glass which has zero power and no yellow tint. I should note that the rear glass is not as recessed as the rear glass on the 500mm / f4 Wauckosin serial# 16000 which has a negative un-tinted single rear glass. Attached are some pictures showing my two Wauckosins along side my 600mm / f4 Oscar Zwierzina Plasticca Series B Kunst-Portrait-Objectiv. 115247115248115249115250

[Steven Tribe]

The plain rear glass of the 600mm "Waka" only makes sense if it is the remnant of a spoiled yellow filter?
There were obviously not many of these made considering the proximity of serial numbers.

Perhaps it was sold as a "trousse" set, with an alternative extra -ve rear lens? The Darlot/de Puyo Objecfif d'Artiste trousse was sold with an alternative plain -ve lens cell to extend the focal length.

Somewhere, there must be a tiny advert/review in the German literature. Or perhaps it was just an American import? It would nice to see if this was the 20's or 30's.

[Geoffrey_5995]

We need to find that advert. There is no remnant of a yellow tint to the clear glass on either lens. It is possible that the rear glass could be a part of a greater trousse set. Or perhaps the rear glass has some effect on the image quality like the rear cells of the Ilex Photoplastic. I've done some research and there is a 1936 and 1938 Wauckosin catalog but this seems late for these lenses: "Wara Photo Spezialitäten: Händlerkatalog 1936/37, Wauckosin & Co." I couldn't find the actual book, only references to it.

[Steven Tribe]

At least there are a few other members who are interested in this "species" of lens - I hope!

I would have thought that the late 30's would have been exactly the "right" time period for the appearance of this "Plasticca copy/successor". Wauckosing couldn't know that the pictorial era was ending - or of the crisis from 1938 onwards.

[Emil Schildt]

We need to find that advert. There is no remnant of a yellow tint to the clear glass on either lens. It is possible that the rear glass could be a part of a greater trousse set. Or perhaps the rear glass has some effect on the image quality like the rear cells of the Ilex Photoplastic. I've done some research and there is a 1936 and 1938 Wauckosin catalog but this seems late for these lenses: "Wara Photo Spezialitäten: Händlerkatalog 1936/37, Wauckosin & Co." I couldn't find the actual book, only references to it.

I made a horrible mistake a few years back: I forgot my Plasticca lens outside overnight.... It was summer - not raining, but the dampness of the night made the yellow "shrink" so now there are this ugly fault in that filter...

I haven't tried to fix it (I don't think it can be done) but I was thinking: is it possible on your lens, the yellow part of the filter at one point got damaged, and the previous owner then took the decision to wash it off totally? I am quite sure I could do that with mine if I wanted to....

[Steven Tribe]

Well just send the filter to me, Emil.

The filter is just 2 thin plane glasses with a pigmented layer. All you need to do is to treat it like a balsam join and re-cement using a tinted canada balsam! Obviously, one has to adjust the mix to produce a pale yellow.

My Plasticca accident was much more dramatic. I left a 30x40cm reisekamera set up in a west facing conservatory with a 600mm plasticca mounted. Unfortunately, the setting sun just came "into the picture" in my absence and burnt a track through the bellows. Not the recommended procedure for checking coverage!

[pierre506]

165592165593

One more "WARA", but doppel anastigmat

[Mark Sawyer]

I just missed out on this Oscar Simon lens while back. (ebay 222514652501 ) Does anyone know how closely it's related to Oscar Simon's Kronar/Kronarette lenses?