Sony coated 300mm f2 projection Petzval

[Jody_S]

Yes, I'm going to mount this bad boy on a camera (on a 5" lens board...). I have a plan, I know what I'm doing (famous last words :cool:).

Has anyone ever seen one of these before? A quick Google search turned up a thread somewhere about an eBay sale in 2006. I gather these aren't exactly common. Yes, it's a coated 12" f2 Petzval design, or close as I can tell from a quick look. I haven't opened it yet. A little over 6" dia, 8" long, weight about 15-18 lbs. Sadly I didn't get a flange, or the correct piece of the projector it came off of, just the lens.

I cannot mount this on my 8x10 as it uses a 4" lensboard and there will be significant vignetting, so I'm mounting it on my 5x7 where the vignetting shouldn't matter. The lens will be mounted on the tripod, pointed at what I want, then I attach the camera, coarse focus, and then support it with a monopod to finish up. For a shutter, I intend to wait until it's dark enough to shoot 1/2s or longer, then use a hat. I doubt the lens could be mounted on any conventional camera other than a studio camera.

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[Dan Fromm]

Clever of you to put a brown paper bag behind it so we'd think it was yellowed like the coveted 12"/2.5 AeroEktar.

[Jody_S]

Clever of you to put a brown paper bag behind it so we'd think it was yellowed like the coveted 12"/2.5 AeroEktar.

Sorry, that was the bag I carried it home in. You can plainly see a little corner of clear lens. I was more interested in showing off the coatings.

[Tracy Storer]

Well, I expect you'll have some fun with that !

[vinny]

I've seen some that size and bigger mounted on video projectors. Not the kind you get at best buy but the kind that take 4 people to carry.

[Jody_S]

I've seen some that size and bigger mounted on video projectors. Not the kind you get at best buy but the kind that take 4 people to carry.

I've been looking, and I actually have another Sony projection lens that is something like 86mm f1.2, but the more recent one is many elements, plastic, aspherical, etc. Would this one be from a 1970s or 80s vintage high-power 35mm movie projector? And should we be seeing a lot of these pop up now that Hollywood has forced everyone to switch to digital projectors?

[ic-racer]

I have seen these lenses but was unsure of coverage. Have you determined if this covers large format film?

[Jody_S]

I have seen these lenses but was unsure of coverage. Have you determined if this covers large format film?

I have now opened the rear. It is not exactly a Petzval design, though it does have a cemented doublet in the front and 2 elements in the rear. Close enough, it makes a beautiful sharp image on a GG. From a quick look with the lens pointed at a window, and a spare bit of glass, I was able to see that it should cover 8x10 (curved field, so probably swirly) and illuminate a bit more.

Here it is with another Sony projection lens, an 86mm f1.0 'HACC' (High-resolution Aspheric Color-Corrected) lens that will cover 4x5 if mounted reversed, and an old B&L 18" f4 projection Petzval. For scale, a Nikon F.
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[kathala]

Forgive me for pulling out this old thread, but I was too fascinated. Jody, could you update us on what happened with the lens? Did you take pictures with it you could share? I see you're still active here, and would love to see some results! :) Have you uncovered any similar lenses since?

[Jody_S]

I gave up on this a couple of years ago and sold the lens. I'm trying to avoid this type of lens now, too much trouble to be useful for what I do.

[kathala]

Thanks so much for responding, Jody! :)