Aerostigmat 10'' 250mm f/4.5

[dabsond]

I have an offer pending from a seller on a Kodak Rochester Aerostigmat 10'' 250mm f/4.5. I am looking to use this on my speed graphic. Has anyone used this lens and can give me feed back. Mostly it would be for portraits and still life studio shots. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[pendennis]

Do you have enough draw on the bellows? The Speed Graphic has about 12" of draw, and the lens may need more for closer focusing.

[dabsond]

Do you have enough draw on the bellows? The Speed Graphic has about 12" of draw, and the lens may need more for closer focusing.

This is exactly why I am looking for anyone who as experience using this lens.

[Dan Fromm]

I have no experience with the Aerostigmat, but it is a tessar type that was designed in the 1930s. Aerial camera lens optimized for distant subjects. It should be a good enough lens but as pendennis pointed out above it is long for your intended use with your Speed. If you want to shoot portraits and still lifes with a 250 mm lens a 10" telephoto such as the 10"/5.6 TeleRaptar/TeleOptar would be a better choice.

[Carsten Wolff]

I have no experience with the Aerostigmat, but it is a tessar type that was designed in the 1930s. Aerial camera lens optimized for distant subjects. It should be a good enough lens but as pendennis pointed out above it is long for your intended use with your Speed. If you want to shoot portraits and still lifes with a 250 mm lens a 10" telephoto such as the 10"/5.6 TeleRaptar/TeleOptar would be a better choice.
...anyone know what the Raptar Tele 10" f/4.5 version is like? Should be similar, right?

[Dan Fromm]

Karsten, are you sure there's an f/4.5 Tele Raptar? I ask because it isn't mentioned here https://alphaxbetax.com/wollensak-lens-and-shutter-compendium/ or in the catalog at pacificrimcamera.com.

If you're thinking of the 10"/5.6 TeleRaptar, yes it was one of the original issue lenses for Speed Graphics. I'm not at all sure there was ever a 10"/4.5 Raptar Ser. II (= Velostigmat Ser. II).

[Dugan]

There is a 9 1/2" f4.5 Raptar. It's non-tele.
I have seen an Ebay ad for a 10", I believe it was for the military, with red & yellow filters.

[Whir-Click]

The compendium (https://alphaxbetax.com/wollensak-lens-and-shutter-compendium/)on my website is limited to Wollensak lenses and shutters for commercial still cameras: I had to set a boundary or I’d go crazy trying to encompass the entire menagerie of Wollensak products.

Nonetheless, I add every Wollensak catalog I can find, and the 1968 3M Wollensak Lens and Shutter Guide (https://alphaxbetax.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/1968-3m-wollensak-lens-and-shutter-guide.pdf) is fascinating in that it lists Wollensak optical systems available to manufacture upon request, roughly 600 lens designs from when the company restarted its lens design numbering system in 1942 until 1968.

More to the point for this thread, the 1968 catalog does point to a 10” f/4.5 Tele Raptar with 4x5” coverage that does not appear in any other catalog. It is a different design from the 5.6 Tele Raptar, and would be really neat to see in person.

I’ll attach the optical and shutter-mounted mechanical assembly drawings in case anyone is interested.

209921209922

[Carsten Wolff]

Thanks, Whir-Click for the reference. I've never actually held one, but here is one from a seller:
209941

[LabRat]

I shoot a 12" f5 (?) Aerostigmat on my studio WP/4X5 Noba camera as one of the main lenses (with Packard shutter)... Great look, but the camera has 24" of bellows... And they are usually extended for most of my tabletop subjects... I think the SG is the wrong camera for the job...

Tele lenses are a little screwy up close, as when movements are applied, so I would be looking at a 180mm to get up close and personal, and have some bellows left if needed...

FWIW...

Happy thanksgiving!!!

Steve K