View Full Version : 203mm 7.5 Optar?
I've been looking for a 203mm Ektar for some time. Came across the coated 203mm 7.5 Optar for cheap on the auction site...quick research indicated it was a symmetrical Dialyte design and not a Tessar, though nothing seemed conclusive or authoritative. Sure seems like a re-branded Ektar, though...hoping so. It's in a Graphex shutter.
Bought it on a lark. Anyone have experience with the lens? And will a Graphex shutter fit into a Copal 0 or 1 board?
Thanks!
:) So it was you !!
From what I have heard it is a very competent dialyte - some use the term sleeper. The Rapax is a very good shutter. Size, I'm not sure. When I get a new lens I pull out the holes saws and 10 minutes later have a new board.
Steve
I've got one, and it's nice. Sharp and pleasing smooth at the same time, sort of like a Tessar; I have not researched it's design. Mine came in a board already, but drilling or cutting a new board isn't a problem.
pic my wife did with it:
http://www.f64.nu/photo/tmp/lff/img200.jpg
Michael Roberts
19-Sep-2010, 06:10
great lens, and no, it won't fit a copal hole. graphex size 1, I think.
EdWorkman
19-Sep-2010, 07:21
I use one from time to time, on a homemade p&s to make 2"x9" pans on 120 film.
I usually shoot it at f32 to make 'sure' i have things in focus- Seems to do a good job
Thanks all for the input. I have several metal lensboards laying around with holes pre-drilled; maybe I can press something into service, or one will be too small and I can have it re-bored for use with this shutter.
It'll be a few months before I can get to shooting again but will try and give a report on the lens someday...
Lens Boards
21-Sep-2010, 18:17
I handled one at Arlington Camera back in 99. I didn't buy it because it was too expensive ($375!). It was very clearly a dialyte just like a 203mm Ektar. My 1965/66 Graflex catalog shows it also, but without any optical diagram. If I could find one for the same price I paid for my 203mm Ektar, I would grab it up.
Larry H-L
22-Sep-2010, 12:36
Yes, IMHO, exactly the same as the Ektar 203mm, except for coating color and shutter.
It is not a Tessar.
Ivan J. Eberle
22-Sep-2010, 13:46
I'd be happy to score either one, but they're not exactly the same.
For instance, an early Ektar requires a working Supermatic shutter, and the Optar a working Graflex/Rapax.
But the Ektar 203mm was also made for the European market as a Type 370, with the threads on the cells that fit directly into a Prontor or Compur (which also fit a modern Copal). Others will require expensive adaptation to fit a modern shutter.
David Lindquist
22-Sep-2010, 14:16
I'd be happy to score either one, but they're not exactly the same.
For instance, an early Ektar requires a working Supermatic shutter, and the Optar a working Graflex/Rapax.
But the Ektar 203mm was also made for the European market as a Type 370, with the threads on the cells that fit directly into a Prontor or Compur (which also fit a modern Copal). Others will require expensive adaptation to fit a modern shutter.
The 203mm f/7.7 Ektar was also available in The U.S. mounted in a No.1 Compur. I understand these were supplied by Eastman Kodak to Graflex to be sold with the Graphic View. My f/7.7 Ektar, made in 1959 (serial number prefix is "RT") is mounted in a No. 1 Compur shutter which is marked "Graphic" on the front. Don't know if Graflex Corp. would have sold these lenses separately or just as part of a Graphic View outfit. Also don't know if Kodak themselves sold Compur mounted f/7.7 Ektars in the U.S. or if they only supplied them to Graflex.
David
Ivan J. Eberle
26-Sep-2010, 12:13
Of course, David, I'd forgotten that there were some Compur-threaded Ektar 203mm's as well (typically seen bundled with Graphic Views, as you mention).
My point was more that a Wollensak Raptar 203mm will not have the threads to directly fit a modern shutter at all-- though some later Ektars do fit.
Good-looking lens, condition-wise. Fits pretty well inside a copal-drilled board by the way--had to screw the flange on backwards, instead of putting the shoulder of it inside the lensboard hole, but it's a snug fit and not going anywhere...
Hopefully my camera will finally show up next week and I can take a look through the thing... When I can finally get some pics up I'll resurrect the thread and show off (or lament) the results.
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