I think I have a brass Dallmeyer Pentac 8" f2.9

[Tony Kearney]

Yesterday I bought a lens with few makings, around the front lens element are the focal length (8"), the aperture (f2.9) and the serial number. On the aperture ring the f stops go from f2.9 to f11. That's it. No other markings. The lens is brass, it has never been mounted and therefore is in near pristine condition. A stall holder at the market I bought it at saw me showing to a friend and told me it was a rare version of the Dellmayer Pentac Air Ministry lens, made in Tasmania under licence and made of brass with a clear varnish rather than from aluminium and finished in black. As a new member I thought I'd ask those in the know if there was any other info on this lens that might be available. Thanks in advance.

[Lachlan 717]

Welcome aboard, Tony.

Nice lens; cracker on a Speed Graphic! I think mine's brass (black MoD version from memory), so not too sure that they only came in Aluminium. Next time I have the lens safe open, I'll check.

[Andrew Plume]

definitely unusual - they're frequently seen as black painted over chrome - if you ever wanted to sell you should do well on eBay as it's far from the norm

it should over 10 x 8, btw

good luck and welcome to this Forum
andrew

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I never heard of a Air Ministry (or any) Pentac-clone being made outside of England, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen

As far as I know all of the AM Pentac-clones were painted black. Most have aluminum barrels but brass barrels aren't rare. Different contractors used different materials, or perhaps different materials were used at different points in their manufacture, depending on scarcity.

Anyhow, the lens you show in the picture looks typical for a brass-barreled Pentac-clone, so I suspect that someone stripped the black paint off and lacquered the brass. Much prettier.

Its a fun lens and works best on 4x5.

[EdSawyer]

It is a pentac, clearly. I too think the paint was stripped and re-clearcoated. Doubtful that it came like that from the factory. Especially since you can see the left-over black paint in the groove on the aperture ring and the holes on the flange.

Great lens, I've had at least 4 or 5 of these (3 currently, which is more than I need). Works well on Graflex RB 3x4 or 4x5 cameras also. A very nice portrait lens.

[Tin Can]

Mine is clearly original black painted brass.

It was my first LF lens and it baffled me for a while.

Now I get it!

[Tony Kearney]

Here's another of it with some projection lenses I got at the same time.133383