150mm Konica Hexanon GRII Process Lens

[marcookie]

I picked up one of this shutterless beauty on eBay for $8. I glued it to a spare 4x5 lens board to mount it on my 8x10. The lens is so tiny it looks weird on the camera.
However it covers the format with no problems (not sure of how much room for movements yet - the far corners are showing some softness).

The lens is uncoated and hazy/fogged up which makes for a very dreamy and "flare-y" atmosphere over an overall very sharp image.

If you want to see an example of the results--and judge it for your taste--see the video below:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22B3p6deXM

It was unexpectedly very fun to play with this beat up lens.

It is a very simple lens so I will open it up and try to clean the haze. Perhaps I will make a follow up video with a test of solvents and procedure to clean up the lens, if it survives!!! Starting from mild solvents going to more and more aggressive ones. I am a chemist so I have access to all sorts of stuff to try and get this lens to its original state.

[ic-racer]

Thanks for sharing. I really like wide lenses on 8x10.
I had a similar experience with a little wider lens. I got a foggy 125mm to use on 8x10, and after disassembly, was able to clean it up pretty well. Hope you have good luck with your lens also.
My lens cuts a little off the corners, so when I printed this I enlarged it just past the easel blades to eliminate the dark corners. Resulting angle of view would be about that of a 135mm lens.


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[Dan Fromm]

Um, er, ah, I've had three Konica Hexanon GR IIs. 150/9, two 210/9. Still have one of the 210s. All coated. All very sharp. All somewhat flary.

OP, you're mistaken about y'r treasure's lack of coating.

[Jim Noel]

Nice demo of this small lens. A favorite activity of mine is to put lenses designed for another purpose on the 8x10.
As an aside, I always told my students to make their exposure, and then turn aroound where they were likely to find an even better image. The tree roots on which you laid your equipment is fascinating.

[Corran]

I have one of those, and suspected it would cover 8x10 but never tested it. Thanks for the confirmation.

It came with a 210mm and 300mm. Was testing the longer lenses on ULF. I almost sold the 150mm once but I suppose I'll keep it for now.

[Armin Seeholzer]

I have a 210mm and 260mm both are covering 8x10 easly, the 260mm has almost endless covering power on 8x10. Never see a dark corner!

[marcookie]

Nice demo of this small lens. A favorite activity of mine is to put lenses designed for another purpose on the 8x10.
As an aside, I always told my students to make their exposure, and then turn aroound where they were likely to find an even better image. The tree roots on which you laid your equipment is fascinating.

Yeah very good point, I saw at least another couple good composition when editing the video!

[marcookie]

Um, er, ah, I've had three Konica Hexanon GR IIs. 150/9, two 210/9. Still have one of the 210s. All coated. All very sharp. All somewhat flary.

OP, you're mistaken about y'r treasure's lack of coating.

You are right, compared to other glass, the reflections looks the same intensity than my 180mm fujinon single coated, but stronger than multicoated lenses. The reflections are slightly bluish-purple so it must have at least one layer of coating. The glass do not have a strong color tint; this is what threw me off in the first place, I thought it was just plain glass.

[marcookie]

Thanks for sharing. I really like wide lenses on 8x10.
I had a similar experience with a little wider lens. I got a foggy 125mm to use on 8x10, and after disassembly, was able to clean it up pretty well. Hope you have good luck with your lens also.
My lens cuts a little off the corners, so when I printed this I enlarged it just past the easel blades to eliminate the dark corners. Resulting angle of view would be about that of a 135mm lens.


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What solvent did you use for the cleaning? I was thinking to start with simple soapy water and a q-tip.

[ic-racer]

What solvent did you use for the cleaning? I was thinking to start with simple soapy water and a q-tip.

I have tried almost everything and concluded haze itself, washes off easily with just about anything. If there is damage to the coating, that is permanent and I think it can sometimes take the form of a fine texture on the coating which does not come off, and it can look like residual 'haze.' At least that is my explanation as more aggressive cleaning almost never works for me.

So my favorite is Windex and microfiber cloth. Sometimes alcohol (90% isopropyl) if I know it is grease vapor. But still looking for that 'silver bullet' that makes any lens perfect again.