verito

[robert_4927]

Ok I'm confused again (I know Iknow , you're not surprised) I just got two 14 1/2" veritos. But i see noticeable differences in both. The first lens i sent to grimes for a cla and new mounting flange. The lens is mounted at the end of the rear barrel. Ok now the new verito i just picked up has the mounting flange at the front of the rear barrel right behind the studio shutter. Also i noticed on the one i just picked up there is a slot in the front barrel to accept what i thought was some type of waterhouse stop . But when i checked the catalog at camera eccentrics web site i see that the verito was also used as an enlargeing or projection type lens and there were diffusion stops to render sharp negatives softer. This slot is not on the front barrel of the other lens. So what i'm looking at is one verito with mounting flange right behind the shutter which would put the rear barrel inside the lens board with a slot in the front barrel for diffusion stops. The other is mounted at the end of the rear barrel . there are no threads showing near the shutter.and there is no slot in the front barrel for diffusion stops. Any and all imput is welcome. ( except for the wise cracks about me being confused).....lol...thanks , robert

[Bill_1856]

After reading your post, it are me what are confused.

[Jim Galli]

Robert, the front and back barrels are like 2 big interchangeable coffee cans. You can unscrew the lens group, unscrew the barrel, turn it around, and screw everything back together assbackwards. Nice really because if you've got the real estate inside the camera it's nice to get half of that brute somewhere else. If you've got a Packard behind it you have to have the whole thing hanging out front! Does that make sense...:-{()

[robert_4927]

Bill,.....told you i was confused...Jim, I send you some pics it will explain it much better

[robert_4927]

Jim, I WILL send some pics. Sorry I didn't mean to dazzle you with my literary prowess

[David A. Goldfarb]

I don't think the Verito enlarging lens came in 14.5" offhand, and there's no reason for it to have had a shutter. My guess is at the slot was for filters or alternate aperture shapes, which could change the shape of out-of-focus highlights or possibly make it possible to reduce the amount of light coming through the lens without reducing the soft quality that results from spherical aberration at wide apertures. Some lenses did this with a star-shaped aperture, and the Imagon does it with the "sink strainer" aperture disks.

I have a 14.5" Verito with the flange threads at the end of the barrel as you describe your first lens, and I have an 11.5" Verito with the threads like you have on your second one, closer to the shutter. Neither has the slot, but that could have been added later. I've seen a few other Veritos, but none with a slot.

[robert_4927]

Hi David, go to camera eccentric web site. They have a 1919 wollensak catalog there. Go to page 20 and 21 i think. Tell me what you think. Thank you

[robert_4927]

I think Jim is right on track . I think since all the threads are the same . It must be the configuration of the barrels. Problem is I think some genius used locktite on the rear barrel of the one lens.... I'm having trouble breaking it loose.

[wfwhitaker]

I agree with David's suggestion that the diffusion stops are to limit the amount of light admitted by the lens while retaining some of the soft focus qualities. The radial pattern allows some of the off axis rays to pass and thus some spherical aberration which is what creates the diffuse quality. The Wollensak catalog refers to them as "stops" and by suggesting that focusing be done at f/32 implies that f/32 is the working aperture for exposure calculation. Since the Verito's diffuse quality is most apparent at the widest apertures, photography in bright available light is a problem with the clunky old Studio shutter. Some means of reducing the amount of light is needed without losing the quality you bought the lens for in the first place. It's more practical these days to use neutral density filters.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Interesting! I've seen another catalogue description of the Verito and no mention of the diffusion stops. As I recall, the enlarging Verito came in two focal lengths for the Kodak autofocus enlarger (odd to think of a soft focus lens on an autofocus enlarger).

Evidently you have one that was slotted for the diffusion stops, and it would work as I described in the previous post, by reducing the light entering the lens, but retaining the soft quality. The diffusion stops would work this way whether used as a taking lens or an enlarging lens. I'm suspecting that you have a taking lens that's slotted for these diffusion stops, because if it were an enlarging lens, it wouldn't need a shutter.

You could have a machinist make you some diffusion stops, if you wanted to experiment with them. S. K. Grimes used to make waterhouse stops. You could also just make them out of black paper to see how they work.

[David A. Goldfarb]

And of course yet another possibility is that the lens was used both for enlarging and as a taking lens, which used to be a more common practice.

[robert_4927]

I think that was the case . A all in one lens. as is said on page 21 of the 1919 catalog. I quote. "By using the diffusing stops with the verito the sharpest of negatives are made to breath a softness of unparalleled beauty." That tells me projection / enlarging lens. It goes on to say, "veritos no2. to no.5 are now supplied slotted to receive the stops". (no.5 is a 14 1/2") 11x14 can be specially slotted atan additional charge of 7.50, including stops. " It seems to me what they are saying is that at one time the slot and diffusion stops were an option and in 1919 they just started slotting them all and if you wanted the diffusion stops you had the option to buy them. Btw the 11x14 was their no.7 model

[robert_4927]

David I'm not at all interested in using this as an enlarging lens . I was just curious as why one of my veritos has a slot in it and one don't is all. The diffusion stops kid of look like what a pentac starlite lens looks stopped down.

[robert_4927]

kind*.....excuse my penmanship

[Joe Smigiel]

Robert,

I have several Veritos, some of which have the mounting flange near the middle of the lens behind the Studio shutter. IIRC my 14.5" model in Studio has the slot for diffusion discs and the 18", 11.5", 8 3/4", and 7" have none. All those are in Studios with the flange mid-lens. Another 8 3/4" w/o slot came mounted in a Betax #5 shutter. One 18" Verito has a barrel with a simple iris diaphragm located mid-lens. No slot. That lens is threaded into what appears to be a dedicated factory 6" square metal lensboard at the rear of the lens.

I've seen pictures of the diffusion disc online somewhere. It was sort of a 3-pointed star with small circles on the ends of the rays and one in the center. I think there were also a few lines radiating in the spaces between the 3-pointed star IIRC. If you could envision a (flat) sand dollar with 3 rays instead of 5, that's what it reminded me of. It was either on an auction or perhaps glennview.com if memory serves. I'd check glennview.com but I'm home on a dial-up connection and his site takes forever to load due to the huge number of pictures he has of his equipment for sale.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi there,

The diffusion disk has a center hole with 3 main rays out to points and 6 minor rays out to points between. I did download a photo of it but do not know how to attach it here. According to the Wollensak catalog they could all be used for enlarging and they would match the 10 and the 7 1/2" lenses for the Kodak auto-focus enlargers if you sent your's in. Ebay is useful for lots of things.

How do you attach pictures here?

[Jay DeFehr]

My 14 1/2" Verito has the slot, and clunky Studio shutter, but no diffusion discs. I've resorted to using very slow film for available light portraits at wide apertures, after producing some absolutely bullet-proof HP5+ negs. There's more than one way to skin a cat!