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maurits
12-Mar-2010, 08:56
So an elderly gentleman living in a small village in the Dutch Veluwe was building a museum for himself. He kept on acquiring all kinds of crazy stuff and soon needed a bigger place to house his growing collection. But the local authorities refused to cooperate. In short: there was not going to a bigger museum, ever.

His house was now filled to the brim with all kinds of crazy old artefacts. He had no choice but to sell part of his treasure. Out went several antique washing machines, dozens of coffee mills, a few street lanterns and sleighs and thousands of different keys. Oh yes, and one (yes, just one) old lens.

The lens was advertised next to some fruit, to reflect its huge size. I know that the chili pepper is the produce of choice for lens advertisements, but we do not have that many of those in The Netherlands. Instead, the lens was pictured with what most people thought were tangerines. Their mistake, as the fruits were large juicy oranges...

It was a big lens, no doubt. Bigger than any other lenses I have...

http://rexmundi.nl/photo/_DSC3783_small.jpg

Heck, even bigger than a Coleman Northstar lantern...

http://rexmundi.nl/photo/_DSC3772_small.jpg

And surely too big for my Chamonix 45n...

http://rexmundi.nl/photo/_DSC3813_small.jpg

Including the hood the lens is 15.5" tall, the glass front and the back diameter is 5.3". I'm guessing focal length is somewhere in between 16" and 20".

It is a Darlot for sure. Not only does the AD monogram prove that, but the front cemented element is signed Darlot, Paris 1862 on the rim. I have not been able to remove the rear element group, but it can clearly be seen that it is made of two air separated lenses.

My guess now is that this lens was born a Magic Lantern lens that was converted for photography very early in its life. The area where Darlot's signature used to be unfortunately made place for room to install Waterhouse stops. Only the monogram and the serial number remain (16.093).

http://rexmundi.nl/photo/_DSC3774_small.jpg

There is no inner guide for the Waterhouse stops. I can see marks on the inside where such a thing may have been installed, though. Instead, there is a metal, matte black aperture ring mounted at the farthest inner rear part of the lens with a 4" diameter. I guess that ring makes it an f4 to f5 lens (depending on actual focal length).

Does anyone know this configuration? Or more about this lens?

All in all, this thing is really impressive. I like it...


.

Emil Schildt
12-Mar-2010, 09:06
no help from me, BUT I'd like to ask permission to use the picture where you show the lens with your camera.. (just for fun - at facebook.. I LOVE these images!!)

In any case - I have the camera for it!! so send the lens to me....:D

jb7
12-Mar-2010, 09:07
If only it was a little bigger, you could have put the camera inside...

Are you going to use it?

dsim
12-Mar-2010, 09:09
Wow!! :eek: What camera for that lens?

goamules
12-Mar-2010, 09:09
Great (big) find. Darlot's continue to baffle me, just when I thought I understood them, another type appears that confuses my theories. If you can tell the slot was cut later, like you said, it was made over the signature, it's probably a projector lens originally. But what a huge one, I've never seen one larger than about a 8" focal length. A 16" focal length wouldn't fit on any projector I've seen, so perhaps it was a special order.

Tri Tran
12-Mar-2010, 09:36
Congratulation! Great optic for portrait. Now you have to contact Hass to widen your Chamonix lens board to mount the camera on it. Please update us when you have picture taken from that lens.

Robert Hughes
12-Mar-2010, 09:38
Great optic for portrait.
Except that you have to shoot from across the street in order to focus on anything bigger than a walnut... :eek:

Walter Calahan
12-Mar-2010, 09:50
Holy cow!

Vick Vickery
12-Mar-2010, 11:26
Durn...no flange! Like I'd ever find a lensboard big enough to need one! :)

Colin Corneau
12-Mar-2010, 11:32
Sounds like you need to build a camera around that lens, not the other way around.

Dave Aharonian
12-Mar-2010, 11:34
My goodness - I'm feeling a little insignificant with my 6" Darlot. Lens envy. I love the shot of it with the Chamonix!!

maurits
12-Mar-2010, 11:42
@ Emil - sure go ahead use the image. We're Facebook friends anyway :)

@ Garrett - I am not sure it was originally a projection lens. That's just a hypothesis now. I have to do some research and see whether I can find taking lenses that have an original Waterhouse slot and a lower serial number than mine. But I am sure that it was converted to take Waterhouse stops. The clearing of the area for the slots was done rather crude, I can not imagine that it was done at Darlot's. See the grooves that the saw made extending across the barrel.

http://rexmundi.nl/photo/_DSC4111.jpg

@ Tri-Tran and Robert - I held the lens in front of a 5x7 B&J and indeed, I could see my across the street neighbour in detail... Maybe I can rig something up with tripods and tables to create an image on film. But I have no camera even remotely strong enough to actually mount it on.

Cheers, Maurits


.

Emil Schildt
12-Mar-2010, 13:23
@ ..... But I have no camera even remotely strong enough to actually mount it on......




.

but I have - at least two!! My big Gandolfi has a HUGE front plate..

at least where size is concerned - but what is the weight?

If you don't want to send it to me, so I can prove it, then come visit!! Bring your new friend!!

Louis Pacilla
12-Mar-2010, 13:46
Man I'd HATE to have a mounting flange made for that cannon.

I had one made for my 20" J&D cone Canister & thought the machinist was going to simply POP me in the nose when he handed me the flange.

Even a professional machine shops w/ up to date equipment are not set up to turn a thread that large .

You don't want to know what he charged me:eek: Crazy high.

Very nice find.

maurits
12-Mar-2010, 14:47
Dave A, your lens might be smaller but your technique is way better than mine :)

Seriously, I am a big fan of your work.


Emil, I may just do that.


Louis, I know. I found a lens for a good price. But now I need a camera and a flange that fits. It is worth it though (I think).

Steven Tribe
12-Mar-2010, 14:57
If this is from 1862 - the first year of "Darlot" engraving - then this is almost certainly a camera lens. Waterhouse's drop-in apertures only became standard practice in the UK around 1860. And VM says that the continental makers were late to adopt them. With the speed of plates around then, they needed all the speed they could use, so smaller apertures were of little use in the studio.

Jim Galli
1-Apr-2010, 07:15
What a beautiful thing!


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/AnEquipmentTourDeForce.jpg

It would fit the 'big' camera easily. The lens panel is 10X10 inches. But last year at the Getty Museum I saw a camera that dwarf's even this 11X14. It was a Mammoth Plate 18X22 inch. Looked identical to my No. 8 11X14 except about twice the size. The lens they had for that was about like your Darlot.