360mm Imagon help please...

[numnutz]

Hi - I have just purchased a 360mm Rodenstock Imagon (barrel lens) to use on my 10 x 8 Deardorff. I have 2 of the Aperture attachments but am missing the filter and the third aperture attachment. Hopefully I will be able to locate the missing aperture in due course but I was hoping to find a 3rd party filter(s) that would suit but I cannot find a screw thread for them to attach to. Can anyone suggest what fitting I can use?

Also can anyone help with an idea of the age of the lens. The info I have is that the lens was made in 1954 but it seems to me to be a bit more modern due to its construction. The serial number is 2 (space) 7802xx. I have downloaded the leaflets from Cameracentric.com but the are just advertising blurb.

Thanks in advance for any information.

nn :)

[resummerfield]

..... The info I have is that the lens was made in 1954 but it seems to me to be a bit more modern due to its construction. The serial number is 2 (space) 7802xx. .....

According to Kerry Thalmann's article in View Camera (I only have the printed version, so I can not point to a www link), the serial number indicates a date between 1952 (2,500,000) and 1954 (3,000,000). So it looks like the info that came with your lens is correct!

[Bob Salomon]

700,000 was made in 1935.
900,000 was made in 1938.
So yours was made in 1936 or 37.
Imagons use push-on filters that are long out of production as are the disks and the lens hood.

[Mark Sawyer]

700,000 was made in 1935.
900,000 was made in 1938.
So yours was made in 1936 or 37.
Imagons use push-on filters that are long out of production as are the disks and the lens hood.

Convention dictates that pre-WWII lenses are uncoated, though convention has been wrong before... Is yours coated?

And what is the maximum f/stop? To the best of my knowledge, early Imagons were f/4.5, middle-aged are f/5.6 or f/5.8, and late models are f/6.3. (I'm not sure when the changes were made, but would love to know...)

[numnutz]

Is yours coated?

Mine is coated - It is black metal not black brass - the wording on the lens barrel says "Rodenstock - Tiefenbildner Imagon H = 5.8 f=360mm then a red A then the serial number. The two aperture disks are labeled H=5.8 H=7.7 and H=9.5 H=11.5 the smaller number is obviously the aperture (equivalent) with the side holes open and the smaller with the holes closed. It is my feeling that the lens was made in the late 1970's early 1980's because of the look and comparing the finish and typeface with a couple of other Rodenstock lenses I am using.

nn :)

[resummerfield]

Mine is coated - It is black metal not black brass - the wording on the lens barrel says "Rodenstock - Tiefenbildner Imagon H = 5.8 f=360mm then a red A then the serial number. The two aperture disks are labeled H=5.8 H=7.7 and H=9.5 H=11.5 the smaller number is obviously the aperture (equivalent) with the side holes open and the smaller with the holes closed. It is my feeling that the lens was made in the late 1970's early 1980's because of the look and comparing the finish and typeface with a couple of other Rodenstock lenses I am using.

nn :)

Based on the serial number you provided—2,780,2xx—it should date from around 1954.

I don't think Rodenstock made a 360mm Imagon in the 1980's, but I wish Bob Salomon would comment here. Bob, could you give the production dates of the Rodenstock 360mm, 420mm, and 480mm lenses?

[Bob Salomon]

Based on the serial number you provided—2,780,2xx—it should date from around 1954.

I don't think Rodenstock made a 360mm Imagon in the 1980's, but I wish Bob Salomon would comment here. Bob, could you give the production dates of the Rodenstock 360mm, 420mm, and 480mm lenses?

Sorry, I did not see the 2 in the serial number. That lens would be a 1953 lens.

We only have the serial number dates. Not lens production dates.
But when we became the Rodenstock distributor in 1986 the longest Imagon was the 300mm. The 360 predates our involvement with Rodenstock. Any Imagon longer then 240mm in a 3 shutter only came with the 2 smaller disks as the shutter opening was too small for the lens to be used at full aperture. So if this 360 is in a 3 shutter it would only have two disks. If it is not in shutter then there should be 3 disks.

[Peter K]

Any Imagon longer then 240mm in a 3 shutter only came with the 2 smaller disks as the shutter opening was too small for the lens to be used at full aperture. So if this 360 is in a 3 shutter it would only have two disks. If it is not in shutter then there should be 3 disks.
The Imagon 360mm was also aviable in a Compound shutter EX-V/12 and Compur-electronic 5 FS. Both with 3 discs.

Peter