Zeiss Protars - Information Please

[Roy Hammans]

A while ago I posted about three f.18 Protars, 8.5cm, 14cm and 32cm I had acquired. All have f-stops marked at 18, 25, 36 and 50 although they stop down slightly beyond 50 in every case. The 8.5cm has a Roman numeral I on the barrel; the 14cm a Roman II; and the 32cm has Roman IV, subscript 2. Members of this forum provided some very useful information at that time. They are unmarked and crystal clear and I would now like to try them out.

A further I question I have is, does anyone know details of the thread diameter and pitch of these lenses and how best I should go about mounting them, either on an MPP field or Sinar monorail camera. Is it possible to get them fitted to a shutter of any kind or should I just accept that I'll be using lens-cap exposures?

Any information, advice or suggestions welcome.

[Ernest Purdum]

These are quite difficult to mount in shutters, however they are physically quite small for their focal length so, despite their very wide angle, mounting them in front of a very large shutter should be feasible. The Sinar Copal would be ideal, but if you don't have one. and don't want to buy one, a big Ilex or Wollensak should do. Making adapters to fit in front of a shutter is not really a high-precsion job, so maybe you could find a local machine shop accustomed to cutting both metric and inch threads that could do the job. The lenses should be placed as far back into the shutter body as possible to avoid vignetting. You will wind up with lots of excess coverage on 4X5. Your smallest lens was listed to cover 4 1/2X6 1/2 and the big one 12X15.

[Jim Noel]

contact www.lensn2shutter.com.
He mounts these lenses into shutters for very nominal cost.

Jim

[e]

Just use a lenscap. You will get more coverage and the lens will be lighter. Best, Emile/www.deleon-ulf.com PS...if you decide to sell the 320mm please let me know.

[Pete Watkins]

I've managed to find LUC shutters at camera fairs in the U.K. Midlands. These only give you one shutter speed (about 1/25 th) but they are designed to fit on the front of a lens with three small grub screws. The small sizes go for about £20-00 and I bought a large one from Mr. Cad for £70-00 (I thought that this was far too expensive but it brought four of my barrel lenses into use). Good luck, PETE.