Greg
20-Aug-2020, 16:58
Several years ago I took a chance and acquired a barrel mounted 5.9 inch f/10 GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lens for my 11x14. At the time I had absolutely no information on the lens and the seller was not a photographer and knew little to nothing about the lens. Hot-glued the barrel lens to a sheet of black Foamcore and taped it to the front of my 11x14. It actually covered the format! Had S K Grimes mount into a Copal No 3 shutter. Marked F/stop scale goes from f/14 to f/64. The iris actually opens up to an unmarked f/9 (interpolated from the marked scale).
http://piercevaubel.com/cam/acc/lensgrayperiscopeextreme.htm
"Notes: Gray's Rapid Symmetrical Periscope Lens was a fairly popular wide angle lens of the 1890's. As its name states, it was a symmetrical rapid rectilinear type lens. There was also a Gray's Wide Angle Lens and a Gray's Extreme Wide Angle Periscope, which had a coverage of 115°" Seems to indicate that there were two lens lines for Gray's wide angle lenses.
vade mecum Mentions R D GRAY of New York but does not list lenses offered. Also lists "Gray's Extreme Angle Stigmatic for 90-95 degrees. f/11 4.5, 5.375, 6.5in This seems to be a Portable RR. It was suggested to use 5.374in for 10x8 (at small apertures?)"
Impressions of my 5.9 inch f/10 GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lens 5.9 inch f/10 GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lens: Sweet f/stop seems to be f/64 in which the 4 corners are the sharpest, judging from the negatives and my contact prints. Unmarked f/9 aperture setting for focusing only. Have found the lens to be too wide for me most of the time , but every now and then just perfect. Have come to prefer my 200mm f/6.5 TAYLOR-HOBSON Cooke Series VIIB WIDE ANGLE ANASTIGMAT mounted in a COPAL 3 for my very wide angle lens for my 11x14. Had always considered acquiring a 150mm WA Nikkor for my 8x10, but the 5.9" GRAY easily fits that bill and saves me around a $2.5-3K purchase.
Once I was Emailed that the production of GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lenses was very, very limited to only a few examples being completed and actually sold to photographers.
If anyone can pass on some more info on GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lenses, please post your comments.
Should any of the FORUM members find one FS, absolutely buy it or at least pass on the info so that I can buy it... :-)
http://piercevaubel.com/cam/acc/lensgrayperiscopeextreme.htm
"Notes: Gray's Rapid Symmetrical Periscope Lens was a fairly popular wide angle lens of the 1890's. As its name states, it was a symmetrical rapid rectilinear type lens. There was also a Gray's Wide Angle Lens and a Gray's Extreme Wide Angle Periscope, which had a coverage of 115°" Seems to indicate that there were two lens lines for Gray's wide angle lenses.
vade mecum Mentions R D GRAY of New York but does not list lenses offered. Also lists "Gray's Extreme Angle Stigmatic for 90-95 degrees. f/11 4.5, 5.375, 6.5in This seems to be a Portable RR. It was suggested to use 5.374in for 10x8 (at small apertures?)"
Impressions of my 5.9 inch f/10 GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lens 5.9 inch f/10 GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lens: Sweet f/stop seems to be f/64 in which the 4 corners are the sharpest, judging from the negatives and my contact prints. Unmarked f/9 aperture setting for focusing only. Have found the lens to be too wide for me most of the time , but every now and then just perfect. Have come to prefer my 200mm f/6.5 TAYLOR-HOBSON Cooke Series VIIB WIDE ANGLE ANASTIGMAT mounted in a COPAL 3 for my very wide angle lens for my 11x14. Had always considered acquiring a 150mm WA Nikkor for my 8x10, but the 5.9" GRAY easily fits that bill and saves me around a $2.5-3K purchase.
Once I was Emailed that the production of GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lenses was very, very limited to only a few examples being completed and actually sold to photographers.
If anyone can pass on some more info on GRAY'S Extreme Angle Periscope lenses, please post your comments.
Should any of the FORUM members find one FS, absolutely buy it or at least pass on the info so that I can buy it... :-)