Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm/4.7

[tom thomas]

Good morning, back from France for the summer. Question. I have a Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm/4.7 with shutter, very good condition that came in a Polaroid 110A kit that includes the camera, case, flash, timer, and even a roll of film. Would I be better to remove the lens/shutter to use on Graflex 23 or 45 camera, or keep the set together and try to find a good home for the set? The film expired in 6/76 but the tube of coating still looks fresh and wet.

I've been reading about the 4X5 conversion backs but not my interest area as I can find a Polaroid 405 kit for my Graflex already and find the film at local store.

If I mount on Graflex, will the 127mm cover 4X5 OK, or should I mount it on a 2x3 or a 3X4 Graflex? The kit contains the 1, 2, and 4, portrait closeup lenses as well. Should be interesting to try them. OR, should I put the kit up for sale here in the forum? That's if it might be of interest to someone.

Thanx.

[Oren Grad]

...will the 127mm cover 4X5 OK

Depends on your standards for "OK". I had one on a 4x5 Polaroid conversion and found that it did not adequately cover 4x5 at the larger apertures I wanted to use hand-held (say, f/8). If you stop it down it may be just adequate for 4x5, like the 127mm Ektar.

[koh303]

The 127 is a very cool lens, does cover 4X5 (with little or no movements at f16 as noted above), and can be very sharp depending on the situation. The lens alone is probably worth more then with the whole camera... I have seen the lenses alone sell for more then a complete 110B with a lens does...
If the shutter works, i would keep it. its a cool little lens, and the shutters are usually a little better then the older graflex/rapax that often come with them.

[nede]

Salut thomas, ton optique couvre le 13x18
Je m'en servais sur ma 4x5 et ça passait très bien...
Je l'ai prêté à un ami qui s'éclate avec

[Dan Fromm]

Salut thomas, ton optique couvre le 13x18
Je m'en servais sur ma 4x5 et ça passait très bien...
Je l'ai prêté à un ami qui s'éclate avec

Il et fou, ce francais.

Un Tessar 127/4.7 ne peut pas couvre 210 mm.

[nede]

I've done a 6,5x8,5 wetplate closed at f/32 and got some vigneting

[Jac@stafford.net]

Good morning, back from France for the summer. Question. I have a Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm/4.7 with shutter [...]

[...]should I put the kit up for sale here in the forum? That's if it might be of interest to someone.

As mentioned, it might barely cover 4x5 depending upon the film holder and subject distance, but in my experience the answer is Not Adequate. The 127mm seems to be adequate for ~3 x 3.75 inches of coverage.

I don't know how many of those lenses I had. The local printing companies threw out their Polaroid system copy cameras (up to nominal 4x5) including those lenses and I got them all and ultimately kept only the press shutters. Even when sold back then the lenses were dirt cheap. Dunno what they go for today.

[Ari]

I had a modified Polaroid, by Alpenhause, with the Ysarex lens.
It definitely covered 4x5 wide open, no problem there.
It was also quite sharp and had a great look to it on B&W.

[koh303]

I had a modified Polaroid, by Alpenhause, with the Ysarex lens.
It definitely covered 4x5 wide open, no problem there.
It was also quite sharp and had a great look to it on B&W.
+1

[hoffner]

Il et fou, ce francais.

Un Tessar 127/4.7 ne peut pas couvre 210 mm.

Il peut être fou, le français, mais certainement il connait la différence entre "et" et "est" en français...:rolleyes:

[Dan Fromm]

typo, wise guy

[tom thomas]

Chut, Chut, mes amis. J'ai toujours cru que Asterix as dit" Sont fou, ces Romains!, pas des Francais. I didn't put a cedilla on my "c" so don't hit me for that. That's the French cartoon character Asterix and his friend Pollux who battled about everyone in their cartoon books.
Let's not argue about French grammar. My wife is a French professor and I'm catching hell daily for my misuse of the feminine and masculines.

I asked the question about the 127mm covering 4X5 as I had a Graflex 4X5 Crown Graphic that came with a Graflex Optar f4.5 127mm lens instead of a f4.7/135 like another I have. Difference I guess would be the Graflex 127mm has 4.5 while the Polaroid one is f4.7 and 127mm. Does the aperture set the coverage limit?

I just put the lens back in the Polaroid 110A after cleaning the glass and verifying shutters. Just noticed as well that it is calibrated in EV on the front of the ring and speed and aperture on the outer edge of the lens mount. Aperture up to f45 as well. I've not seen a lens going up to f45 before. Guess that was for Polaroids 3000ASA film? Luckily it comes with the Polaroid light meter calibrated in EV as well so I can quickly set it according to the light meter. The meter seems to be working well for it's age. So many old meters are dead and gone, beautiful but worthless.

[Thomas Greutmann]

I had a modified Polaroid, by Alpenhause, with the Ysarex lens.
It definitely covered 4x5 wide open, no problem there.
It was also quite sharp and had a great look to it on B&W.

+1

It is really surprising how good this little piece of glass is. In the center it is as sharp as it gets, a little softer on the edges.

Greetings, Thomas

[hoffner]

Il et fou, ce francais.

Un Tessar 127/4.7 ne peut pas couvre 210 mm.


typo, wise guy

... ne peut pas couvrir 210 mm - instead of your "couvre 210 mm". A typo, wise guy? :rolleyes:

[nede]

Yeah a little bit crazy, and I know the difference between "et" and "est" but I won't allow myself to correct you as a pedant person would.
Well, please find the link, leading to the 6,5x8" I made using my Ysarex stop down to f/32, there is a lot of vigneting but I guess it covers barely 5x7
https://www.facebook.com/nedephotographie/photos/pb.187328497965131.-2207520000.1403337718./689174447780531/?type=3&theater

[Dan Fromm]

hey, wise guy, verbs are conjugated. Couvre is the third person singular of couvrir. I think that infinitives are used in place of the correct form only in cookbook Spanish. I could be mistaken. Please correct my errors when you catch them, but not with errors of your own.

Tom, it is Castor et Pollux (opera de Rameau, legende grecque), Asterix et Obelix. And in the strips, they say "Ils sont fous, ces romains," sometimes "Ils sont fous, ces gaullois"

nede one of the weaknesses of photographers' English is ambiguity. In particular, when we say a lens covers a format sometimes we mean that it illuminates the format, i.e., puts light in the corners, and sometimes we mean that it produces acceptable image quality across the format, i.e., puts acceptable image in the corners. A lens that puts darkness in the corners, as my little 38/4.5 Biogon does when used on 6x9 (2x3 in Imperial), fails both definitions.

[tom thomas]

[QUOTE=Dan Fromm;1147135]
Tom, it is Castor et Pollux (opera de Rameau, legende grecque), Asterix et Obelix. And in the strips, they say "Ils sont fous, ces romains," sometimes "Ils sont fous, ces gaullois"

Merci Dan, my Partzheimers kicks in sometimes and Obelix gets forgotten. Gerard Depardieu, now Russian, and a recovering alcoholic, did a good job bringing him to life in a film so I should have remembered but Pollux hit the spot at the moment.
Thank your for your description of "coverage." Makes sense, much better than the E-B=*y description of "covers."

[tom thomas]

Well, please find the link, leading to the 6,5x8" I made using my Ysarex stop down to f/32, there is a lot of vigneting but I guess it covers barely 5x7
https://www.facebook.com/nedephotographie/photos/pb.187328497965131.-2207520000.1403337718./689174447780531/?type=3&theater

Nède, thanx for the link to your great photo using the Ysarex lens. I can see the vignetting and find it a very attractive effect clearly setting the mood of your tree photo. I notice you live in L'Ile-sur-le-Sorgue. My wife and I enjoy browsing the antique stores there and I find the scenery so photogenic. If other members of the group have the opportunity to visit the Avignon region, try to make it there with you cameras.

[hoffner]

Il et fou, ce francais.

Un Tessar 127/4.7 ne peut pas couvre 210 mm.


hey, wise guy, verbs are conjugated. Couvre is the third person singular of couvrir. I think that infinitives are used in place of the correct form only in cookbook Spanish. I could be mistaken. Please correct my errors when you catch them, but not with errors of your own.
.

Indeed, wise guy, you're mistaken. In French you cannot use 3rd person sing. after - "il (le Tessar) ne peut pas..." you must use the infinitive "il ne peut pas couvrir". If you are still thick headed say to yourself - "il ne peut pas dit..." instead of the correct "il (Dan Fromm) ne peut pas dire..." If you still don't get it, go back to the first lesson.

Otherwise, make sure when you want to show your French feathers, they are not badly ruffled. Salut, Wise guy. (Heck, you can't say it in English either - A 127/4.7 Tessar cannot covers 210 mm. Why would that work in French?

[Dan Fromm]

wise guy, thanks for pointing out my slip

[hoffner]

No problem, it happens even to the best ones. But I agree with you about the coverage.

[Dan Fromm]

Yeah, a 127 has to cover 79 degrees to cover 5x7. That's more than first line plasmat types (convertible Symmars, Sironars without suffix, ...) of the '60s did.

There were indeed wide angle Tessars, but not many, and all slower than f/4.7.

[hoffner]

As usual, you know your stuff.

[Kuzano]

My father returned from Belgium in 1945 coming back from WWII (We liberated France, you know?). As I was two at the time, he waited until I started to talk and taught me some French. None of it can be used on this sitw, but I read closely your posts and did not find any profanity that I could recall.

Thanks for keeping it SFW folks.

[nede]

Nède, thanx for the link to your great photo using the Ysarex lens. I can see the vignetting and find it a very attractive effect clearly setting the mood of your tree photo. I notice you live in L'Ile-sur-le-Sorgue. My wife and I enjoy browsing the antique stores there and I find the scenery so photogenic. If other members of the group have the opportunity to visit the Avignon region, try to make it there with you cameras.

Feel free to visit me next Time you come by!
We have such a good "countryside" near Avignon..