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Richard K.
9-Dec-2009, 13:53
Just a quick poll. Which 5 of the lenses in the list below would you keep?

1.) Darlot Petzval
2.) Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear (or Steinheil)
3.) A Wide Angle rapid rectilinear Eg. Neuhring 125mm
4.) Cooke Series XV triple convertible
5.) Heliar
6.) A long-ish Artar (I have a 35” RDA)
7.) A short-ish Cooke Series V process lens
8.) A Verito
9.) A Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality
10.) A Cooke Series IIa Portric Knuckler
11.) Darlot Hemispherique Extra-Rapide
12.) Globe Wide Angle
13.) Grubb-C lens,
14.) Harrison & Schnitzer American Globe
15.) Protar

Richard K.
9-Dec-2009, 13:57
Gosh darn, I thought I could set up the associated poll but I can't seem to do it! Sorry, I will pull this in a minute...

Richard K.
9-Dec-2009, 14:00
Gosh darn, I thought I could set up the associated poll but I can't seem to do it! Sorry, I will pull this in a minute...

Which I can't do either! I'm going back under my rock...:o

Diane Maher
9-Dec-2009, 14:28
Still no Voigtlander! :D

Mark Sawyer
9-Dec-2009, 14:35
4, 8, 9, 10, 14!

Do I win?

eddie
9-Dec-2009, 14:46
voigtlander petzval, 5, 9, 10, 12

do i win?

Jim Galli
9-Dec-2009, 19:13
4, 8, 9, 10, 14!

Do I win?


voigtlander petzval, 5, 9, 10, 12

do i win?

1,4,5,8,9,10. That's my 5. Watch out, I snipe.

Robert Fisher
9-Dec-2009, 19:54
Does anybody have one of the "primo" lenses listed above for sale?

I am looking for a mint/exc+ type lens (210-300mm) with shutter to cover 5x7.

Thanks!

Duyfam
10-Dec-2009, 11:02
Still no Eidoscope! :)

redrockcoulee
10-Dec-2009, 14:41
So how long do we get to try out all those lenses before we send ten of them back to you? :)

Mark Sawyer
10-Dec-2009, 15:28
1,4,5,8,9,10. That's my 5. Watch out, I snipe.

That's six lenses, you're disqualified. No lenses for you! :D

Richard K.
10-Dec-2009, 15:32
So how long do we get to try out all those lenses before we send ten of them back to you? :)

LOL, I have only the Artar. I did see the Harrison & Schnitzer American Globe on auction a while (year?) back...


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/RichardK47/HarrisonSchniitzerGlobeLens.jpg

Circa 1862, what a beauty, eh?

goamules
11-Dec-2009, 07:29
There was a Harrison Globe 2 weeks ago, starting price $99 if I recall. I made an offer, and asked if he would let the auction run the entire time. He assured me it would. Minutes later is ended early with a very high buy it now. The seller must have done a little research or a buyer stepped up with a wad.

That's why I try to remain coy about lenses. Right now I'm seeing cheap, run of the mill Darlot magic lantern lenses go for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Why? Hype. So many posts in forums like this talk about "gotta have a Darlot..." that people start breathing heavy when they see one. Know what? They are just a Petzval like any other, and were a lot cheaper in the day than other, better makes. So collectors gobble up everything that might be a holy grail, and photographers never again get to shoot with these lenses.

Hugo Zhang
11-Dec-2009, 08:01
Richard,

This is my list of 5 classic lenses:

1. Apo-Lanthar 30CM

2. Hermagis Eidoscope No. 2

3. Dallmeyer Anastigmat Portrait Lens 12" f/3.5

4. Pinkham Smith Visual Quality IV

5. Zeiss-Goerz Dagor 18cm f/9

Richard K.
11-Dec-2009, 08:23
.....so collectors gobble up everything that might be a holy grail, and photographers never again get to shoot with these lenses.

I feel a bit guilty in posting the questions re classic lenses. As I indicated, I was just curious about what photographers (and collectors I guess) found to be of historical or aesthetic interest. What was hard to find? Why is it significant? I honestly didn't mean any kind of ranking among them, just what was felt to be special about them, even what lenses invoked a sense of communion with past photographers.

Your point about collectors gobbling is a vaild one and I admit that I didn't consider those turkeys :) But, this forum is a small pond. I would imagine that collectors (as opposed to photographer-collectors) are in a very small minority on this board and certainly don't need us to point them to what's valuable as they make their rounds of the auction houses. OTOH, the joy, sense of communion with the past, and the sheer perverseness of using 100+ year-old optics to (re)create satifying photographs with a certain look should be something that we would want to share with our fellow voyagers in this avocation. Not ranking lenses, not assembling a top ten must haves (although I admit it looks like it right now), but noting a few milestones and why they continue to beguile.

It's possible that the collector-sellers are doing us a favour by routing out these truffles in venues that we don't venture in and then flipping them for profit (to us) or to finance holier grails. Really, these people are out there and nothing on this forum will stop them. OTOH, isn't it nice to have modern photographers become acquainted with and smitten by some very special optics as espoused by fellow photographers? (Is there an emoticon for long-winded :rolleyes: ?)

Just a thought (or two)....