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wingn2a
3-Oct-2006, 14:24
I went over to my girlfriends house the other day and she handed me this. It seems she used to work for a company that did year book photography and they occasionally used a LF camera with a roll-film back. I am new at LF and I’m wondering if what I have is a barrel lens and if all I need is a shutter for it? The glass is pretty much spotless, and I would like to put it to use. “7 ˝” Ilex Paragon” on the front and that’s it. 2 1/16th” long and 2” dia. It looks like it has a built in flange. If this is a barrel lens, what kind of shutter might work with it? …. I am new at this and my ignorance is showing….

Sheldon N
3-Oct-2006, 16:37
It's an Ilex Paragon, which I believe is a tessar design and a copy of the popular Kodak Ektar lens. It's not the best lens out there, but many people have commented that it's quite useable, especially when stopped down. It'll probably be a little soft wide open, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Yes, you will need some sort of shutter to use it effectively. Most of the time you will see this lens mounted in an Ilex #4 shutter.

It's not a particularly valuable lens. You might get something like $25-50 for it on Ebay in barrel form, perhaps pay $100-$125 for one in a shutter. I've seen them as cheap as $50 in shutter, and I even noticed that an older 5 1/2" model in a partially working shutter sold for $7.

It's probably cheaper to buy another one with a working shutter than it is to have it retrofitted into a shutter.

Donald Qualls
3-Oct-2006, 16:46
Ilex Paragon? Totally worthless -- best send it to me so it doesn't clutter up your space; I'll have to mount it on my Speed Graphic to keep it from getting in the way. ;)

Er...

I don't see the focal length -- longer than 135 mm, I suppose, if that was really large format -- and I don't see evidence of an aperture diaphragm. More likely, however, it was used at fixed, full aperture on a camera that took 70 mm long rolls; 135-150 mm would be a nice portrait length for the crosswise 4:3 frame (a little bigger than 6x4.5) common for those cameras, and the shallow DOF would help ensure that the painted backdrop was out of focus so as not to distract.

Steve Hamley
3-Oct-2006, 16:46
You probably can't get it custom mounted in a shutter for less than about $300-350 plus the cost of a shutter - far exceeding the value of the finished product. Sheldon's advice is good, sell it and buy something in a shutter. Or if you want to use it, the best advice would probably be to get a Speed Graphic for $200-300 and use it with the focal plane shutter the camera has.

Steve

Sheldon N
3-Oct-2006, 17:03
I don't see the focal length

In the first photo I think it shows that it's a 7 1/2 inch.

Michael Graves
3-Oct-2006, 18:43
Ilex Paragon? Totally worthless -- best send it to me so it doesn't clutter up your space; I'll have to mount it on my Speed Graphic to keep it from getting in the way. ;)

Nice try, Donald. I've got an 8 1/4" Paragon mounted on a 5x7 Kodak 2D and a 210 Fujinon on a 5x7 Toyo. The Fujinon is sharper, but I have more "keepers" from the Paragon. I'm not sure how to describe the image quality it gives. I just like it a lot.

wingn2a
4-Oct-2006, 11:01
[QUOTE= More likely, however, it was used at fixed, full aperture on a camera that took 70 mm long rolls; 135-150 mm would be a nice portrait length for the crosswise 4:3 frame (a little bigger than 6x4.5) common for those cameras, and the shallow DOF would help ensure that the painted backdrop was out of focus so as not to distract.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I think that is it.... she mentioned that they used a roll fillm back and that it was 70mm film....

It's funny, the first lens I bought on ebay (just last week) was an Ilex Paragon Anastigmat in 7.5" / F4.5, so this was a coincidence. However, I can understand it being cost prohibitive to put it in a shutter... thanks to all for the advice....