Design of 215mm (8.5") f/4.8 Caltar S/Acuton lens

[Mark Sawyer]

Does anyone know if this is a typical Plasmat design?

BTW, it's a wonderful lens, covers 8x10 with slight movements, bright and quite sharp to the edges, convertable to 14", fairly common, often at $200 or so for a clean one.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Mark,

According to the Ilex catalog it's 6 elements in 4 groups.

Have fun with it.

[Mark Sawyer]

I'm bumping this one to the front, as I'm still curious. I'd love to have a longer focal length version of this lens to go along with the 215mm. Does anyone know if the 300mm Caltar S is of the same design as the 215mm f/4.8 Caltar S?

[Mark Sampson]

I just went and looked at the 14-3/4" f/6.3 Ilex-Caltar in the lens cabinet. I remembered that it's not convertible, and a closer look suggests that it's a Tessar-type lens. BTW, you can find posts on photo.net from Lynn Jones, who worked at Ilex and may have had a hand in designing these lenses.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Mark,

The Ilex catalog only lists a 6", 7", and 8.5" in the f/4.8 series, nothing longer.
No listing for the 300mm Clatar S, sorry.

[Jim Galli]

The f5.6 Symmar Convertible 300 / 500 should look and act just like your 215. Same era same type etc. They're not too expensive.

[Mark Sawyer]

Thank you, Jim! Looks like I may have a convertable Symar in my future! And thank you, Paul!

:)