Magic Lantern lens

[Laskadog]

Someone is selling a Robert Ballantine projector in my area. I've been looking for a Petzval lens for my 5x7 wet plate camera and am wondering if anyone knows what type of lens this might be. Image circle, f-stop etc... Would it be any good?

Thanks,

148671

[IanG]

It's highly unlikely it'll cover 5x4 properly let alone 7x5. Magic lantern slides are usually around 3½" square and as their lenses are for projection distances coverage is less at infinity.

Ian

[Laskadog]

Thanks Ian. That kind of sucks :( The price was a little steep anyways.

[Greg]

Friend bought similar projector and lens at a price he "couldn't pass up on"..... lens didn't even cover 4x5 at infinity.

[Laskadog]

Thanks guys for potentially saving me a few bucks. So if these lenses don't cover squat and don't focus to infinity, how come they are so popular?

[IanG]

Thanks guys for potentially saving me a few bucks. So if these lenses don't cover squat and don't focus to infinity, how come they are so popular?

It's the larger ones that can be used. I bought one at a Flea market about 3 years ago probably a Portrait Petzval used as an enlarger lens,

http://lostlabours.co.uk/photography/cameras/images/petzval02sm.jpg

http://lostlabours.co.uk/photography/cameras/images/petzval04sm.jpg

It cleaned up beautifully :D

http://lostlabours.co.uk/photography/cameras/images/petzval07sm.jpg

I've posted these images before. Look for a larger lens, this ones about 5" long 3" diameter Also see if there's a slot for Waterhouse stops that indicates the lens was originally made as a taking lens. When RR lenses superseded Petzvals some old stock lenses were used on enlargers etc.

People are buying shorter FL projection Petzvals to use on DSLR not LF cameras. Usually they can be found quite cheaply.

Ian

[goamules]

They'll focus fine at infinity. A projector wouldn't be worth much if it didn't

They are usually about 6-7" focal length, that's all. If they are slower, a Petzval will cover more. So some may cover 4x5. Many wetplaters started on quarterplate size, and they'll cover that. Today the trend is to start big, even bigger than 4x5, so therein is the problem

[Steven Tribe]

When the magic lantern craze infected the middle classes in the 80's and 90's, a few saved a lttle on purchase prices by using old lenses which were available. These old lenses were often more interesting than those offered new. I have seen reused old photographic petzvals installed on magic lanterns on ebay at least three times.

But, as Ian found out, a better source is flea markets.