British Planar?

[svlindbe]

For some time an old rusty lens/shutter has been collecting dust on my shelf. I took it down today to give it a closer look, and perhaps it is more interesting than I thought.

The lens is marked as "EURYPLAN-ANASTIGMAT SERIES I F:4,5 FOCUS 8 1/4 INCH" in a yellowish writing, and then "A. E. Staley & Co London E. C " in a different font with white letters. There is a No. 2047 number on the outside of the front rim, and the same number on the rim of the rear cell. The lens is symmetrical, front and rear cells giving 5 reflections each, out of which one is weak. The front cell is possible to unscrew, an I can loosen a cemented doublet, and the front element then stays in place. The complete lens seems to be a 1-2-:-2-1 configuration. Is this a Plasmat, even if many of them ( such as symmars) have the doublets longest away from the aperture? The Planars had 6 single element, I think...

Was Staley a manufacturer, or just a company that stamped their name on products they sold? I found in another thread that they around 1900 sold the Swiss Suter lenses.

Does the name Euryplan indicate that this is a construction with wide coverage? For the time being I really can't say, because the old Compound shutter is stuck in closed position...

Svein L

[Peter K]

The Euryplan is an air-spaced Dagor, constructed from E. Arbeit for Schultz & Billebeck of Potsdam patented 1903. Later this lens was made by Hugo Meyer of Goerlitz as "Satz Plasmat". So they must have aquired the name from Schultz & Billebeck.

source: R. Kingslake; History of the photographic lens.

[Dan Fromm]

Svein, "Planar" covers many many sins. The original P. Rudolph design was 6/4, 12/21, see http://www.dioptrique.info/OBJECTIFS9/00401/00401.HTM . Many of the post-WWII Planars are 5/4, 12/11.

To add to the confusion, some authorities, for example Brandt, call Planar types 6/4 double Gauss of the first type, Plasmat types (21/12) double Gauss of the second type. Terminology is a killer.

Design type isn't always a reliable guide to coverage. As far as I know there are no wide angle Planars (or OPICs or Unilites or Xenotars or ...). We are used to plasmat types that cover more than their focal lengths but there are relatively narrow angle plasmats.

Channing & Dunn say that Staley began as a dealer and importer, later made cameras. No mention of lens-making.

Cheers,

Dan

[Steven Tribe]

VM has a lot of information about the development of the euryplan and Staley's relationship with S&B.