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John NYC
23-Dec-2009, 17:44
Alright, I can already hear it from this bunch, the cackling and funny har-hars. And that's fine, but this is actually a serious question, too.

I am new to LF (doing it a couple months and having a ball). I first bought a 210mm lens, but am finding I make most of my pictures with a 150mm and some with a 90mm. The 210 is a Rodenstock Geronar in pristine condition. At first I thought of selling it here, but it isn't worth all that much. Then I recently saw again a Sally Mann photograph and was reminded of the wabi sabi beauty of age and damage. I suppose I could look for an old damaged lens to experiment with, but I would actually spend more money on that then just beating up my 210.

So, has anyone ever done this before and have any pointers should I decide to "prematurely age" my lens as an experiment?

Jim Michael
23-Dec-2009, 17:47
Comet and steel wool?

Lachlan 717
23-Dec-2009, 17:49
Save the lens.

Get a step-up ring, a UV filter and done petroleum jelly. Or just scratch the filter
as desired.

Cheaper in the longrun because you get to keep the lens.

Bob Salomon
23-Dec-2009, 17:49
Put a skylight filter on it and try smearing thin coats of vasolene on the filter. Then clean it off the filter and try putting other things on it. No reason to destroy the lens.

John Schneider
23-Dec-2009, 17:51
Shotgun at close range.

Seriously, I'd swap you an aged Compur shutter for your pristine Copal, and even throw in an ugly Dagor cell (I call it my "Eingor").

jnantz
23-Dec-2009, 18:08
i did that with an extra lens for my pentax auto 110 -
the lens was much less expensive than the lens you have :)
but it was fun !

look for a folder and harvest the junk lens off of it ...

Bill_1856
23-Dec-2009, 18:10
You may find after you've been shooting LF a while longer, that you may gravitate towards a longer lens, so hold off with the despoiling for a while.

Frank Petronio
23-Dec-2009, 18:31
Scratching up the lens will probably cause it to flare unpredictably and not even be good as a "bad lens". The Vaseline on a filter trick is a good starting place. Another one is to use a Nylon stocking stretched over the lens, or simply spend a few bucks on one or two of the soft focus filters out there.

Also just shoot wide open and tilt and swing your camera's standards the "wrong" way and you'll make a mess of thing quite nicely.

Better to think of what you want to accomplish in terms of fogginess (lower contrast) and curvature (blurry corners) and bokeh (swirls out of focus, etc.). That's why they make Lens Babies for small format... In large format you can get all sorts of soft focus and pictorial lenses.

Follow our friend Mr. Galli around this forum, he makes use of all sorts of older pictorial lenses and gadgets.

mikebarger
23-Dec-2009, 18:39
What would this lens sell for?

Mike

Andrew
23-Dec-2009, 18:45
I know exactly where you're coming from... leave your modern lenses intact !

the best way to get the look of an antique lens is to get an antique lens !!!

start looking here in the for sale section, at camera fairs, on fleaBay, etc and something interesting will turn up. And it probably won't cost a fortune because you aren't competing with the collectors who want pristine examples. Look for projection petzvals, single element meniscus lenses, rapid rectilinear of any type etc. You can use half of a rapid rectilinear as a lens by itself. You may even see lenses that are both old and damaged!

then you're only worry will be how to shutter your finds and you'll be looking for a speed graphic camera or a packard shutter to [front?] mount over your old brass lens

I love Sally Mann's work too but keep in mind that a lot of the effect you see in "deep south" or "what remains" is artifact from the wet plate collodion process. That means you may get some milage from looking at bad processing of modern materials or perhaps using paper negatives

Mike1234
23-Dec-2009, 19:14
I'll bet you could get $225 for the Geronar if it's pristine... $195 at least. I've seen three listed in the $175 range and all were gone the same day they were listed.

Jim C.
23-Dec-2009, 19:27
Why trash a good lens ? All the previous suggestions on trashing a skylight/UV
filter sounds better to me.

If you're wanting to experiment, unfortunately I can't find the thread,
but a member of the forum used a 2 for 99 cents magnifying lens
from a odd lot store as a lens, card board tube and tape iirc to mount
to a lens board, with some very interesting results.

John NYC
23-Dec-2009, 19:40
Wow. These are all great responses. You've convinced me that the idea to first f' up a filter (or three) is the way to experiment with this.

But in that case, I can do it with a (cheaper!) filter on my favorite little 150mm.

For anyone who seems interested, I can tell you that I'd part with this lens for $165 (what I paid for it... a steal?) plus you pay shipping to your parts. I looked it up and I bought it in EX+ condition from KEH, but honestly I can't tell the difference from the LN- or the EX condition pieces I've bought from them, they are all so well maintained.

Kudos to the shotgun comment, by the way. Very William S. Burroughs-esque!

Jim Michael
23-Dec-2009, 20:17
Good idea re the filter. Once you have a vaseline pattern on your filter that you like you can make a permanent version with clear nail polish.

John NYC
23-Dec-2009, 21:08
Good idea re the filter. Once you have a vaseline pattern on your filter that you like you can make a permanent version with clear nail polish.

Great idea!

Andrew
23-Dec-2009, 21:13
yes, I saw that thread about the cheap magnifying lenses a few days ago
made me look twice at every bit of glass I've walked past since then
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35097

John NYC
23-Dec-2009, 23:13
Old camera and lens envy anyone?...

http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/388*387/indelible_mainmay05.jpg

Perhaps I should not bother down this path at all. Keep moving. Nothing to see here folks.

Jim C.
24-Dec-2009, 00:14
yes, I saw that thread about the cheap magnifying lenses a few days ago
made me look twice at every bit of glass I've walked past since then
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35097

Yes ! That's the thread.

Michael Graves
24-Dec-2009, 05:50
Wrinkle up some plastic wrap. Remove the front element from the shutter. Wrap the plastic wrap around the rear grouping and screw the element back in with the plastic in place.

Mike1234
24-Dec-2009, 07:30
Hey, John... If you really want to sell it a member here just contacted me about mine that I won't let go that cheap. I hope it's okay if I hae him PM you.

John NYC
24-Dec-2009, 09:23
Hey, John... If you really want to sell it a member here just contacted me about mine that I won't let go that cheap. I hope it's okay if I hae him PM you.

Sure, I am not going to be around to ship it during the holidays, so as long as he can wait a week and a half to do the transaction. If that doesn't work out, I will probably list it in the for sale section when I get back.

John NYC
24-Dec-2009, 09:28
Wrinkle up some plastic wrap. Remove the front element from the shutter. Wrap the plastic wrap around the rear grouping and screw the element back in with the plastic in place.

Interesting. Have you any examples of what this ends up looking like?

Mike1234
24-Dec-2009, 09:39
Sure, I am not going to be around to ship it during the holidays, so as long as he can wait a week and a half to do the transaction. If that doesn't work out, I will probably list it in the for sale section when I get back.

Sent him a PM. I quoted the wrong thread but I gave him your correct user name. Hope he finds you. He seems in serious need of a "cheap 210", as he put it. A really Nice Geronar should fit the bill perfectly, IMO.

Andrew
24-Dec-2009, 12:56
for example... rapid rectilinear and paper negative
the RR's are cheapish if you don;t want a high profile manufacturer
and if you get one that just covers the format you can have nice vignetting

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showpost.php?p=537474&postcount=1172

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showpost.php?p=537850&postcount=85

and I see that the lens was only $69 + post thru this forum
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=56618

Mark Woods
26-Dec-2009, 22:47
Vaseline is not optical. It takes soap or alcohol to clean it. KY Jelly is optically clear and only needs water to clean it off. (Don't get the flavored ones if they introduce a color into to the jelly, unless that's what you want.) This is no joke. Try it, you may like it!

Terence McDonagh
27-Dec-2009, 11:28
Just look on eBay for any lens labeled "mint" or that contains the description "I'm not a camera expert". They are sure to be garbage lenses that will certainly have just the right combination of fungus, separation and "cleaning marks" to yield a perfectly abominable sharpness.

Mike1234
27-Dec-2009, 12:22
Once ye' be takin' the varseline, ye' won't be carin' 'bout the best lenses, YO-HO!! Even the cheapest o' the cheap won't be no matter ta' ya'.