Help wanted, unknown Eugène Faller lens

[buzzardkid]

Hello,

last week i bought a small brass lens of unknown focal length. It arrived today with the mail. Glass was dirty, aperture was stuck. Took me two hours to get it neat and tidy and I started hacking a lens board for it.

I cannot get it to focus on my half plate camera. Tried close up and as long as bellows draw permitted and then some, using a cardboard extension. To no avail.

The lens is marked Eug. Faller, Simili Anastigmat F8, 13x18. With the return of daylight I can upload a shot.

According to the internet, Eugène Faller was based in Paris. And thats it, I cannot find anything more.

Anybody that can help out?

[Lachlan 717]

I approximate FL of unmarked lenses by standing is a darkish room that has an outside window visible.

You simply stand near a wall, hold the lens up so the rear faces the wall and the front faces the window, and move the lens back and forward until a sharp image appears on the wall.

From this, I know the rough distance I will need to extend the bellows once the lens is on-camera.

If you try this and again don't get a sharp image (between really close to, or far away from, the wall), you've probably got a dud lens.

One other benefit is that you get an idea of the image circle's size.

[buzzardkid]

Must be a dud then, there's no way the lens can cover 13x18 at all and an image that could remotely be considered 'sharp' only forms at approx. 3 inches from the wall.

Grmpf.

It's a nice small lens and it looks good. The aperture cleaned up very nicely and I would have liked to actually use it...

[Lachlan 717]

Must be a dud then, there's no way the lens can cover 13x18 at all and an image that could remotely be considered 'sharp' only forms at approx. 3 inches from the wall.

Grmpf.

It's a nice small lens and it looks good. The aperture cleaned up very nicely and I would have liked to actually use it...

Could be a sub-75mm Wide Angle. Did you go closer?

[Philippe Grunchec]

Eugène Faller, 6-8, rue du Temple, Paris (ca. 1860).
Then Mr. Faller became an associate of Mr. Gilles, and built the Gilles-Faller cameras: as you see, "Gilles" is not Faller's first name!

[Steven Tribe]

Interesting lens name! Simili (fake!) anastigmat.

[buzzardkid]

Added some pictures.

Observation: with a flash light close to the rear element, I can see a fairly sharp edged image cirle on the wall at approx. 80 cms distance. In that image circle, a 13x18 image would fit.

Is this possibly an old projection lens?



http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49785&stc=1&d=1294752595

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49786&stc=1&d=1294752605

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49787&stc=1&d=1294752616

[Philippe Grunchec]

Do you think a projection lens would have f stops?

[buzzardkid]

Do you think a projection lens would have f stops?

No, I do not. Unless the elements and the barrel were a mix-and-match. But, the engravings are very similar.:confused:

Both elements have the same thread and can be switched. I tried that and it did not make any difference wide open, only minor difference when stopped down, the aperture is close to the middle of the barrel.

What would the classic layout of an anastigmat be? I have two cemented pairs now, front and rear element. Am I missing an element?

[Jim Galli]

It looks like an early Dagor copy f7.7~f8. Who knows what happens to lenses in 120 years. If it's a Dagor type then the two elements should be symmetrical. See if one will focus at about 15" by itself. Then try the other. My guess is that one of the pair has been tampered with. ie. one of the glasses in the cemented group was completely crazed and some previous owner threw that glass away, washed off the cement with acetone and put it on ebay. A 13X18 lens of that time frame should focus around 8 1/2 - 9 inches. So see if you can form an image with each group by itself. If one forms an image around 15 inch and the other does not, the one that didn't may be the culprit.

[buzzardkid]

Jim,

I think you nailed it.

both optical groups have a hollow inner side, but the one element (with the engraving) has a far more hollow inner side than the other. Also, that element had some sort-of transparent crud on it, which I cleaned off.

Seems my Dagor copy is missing a cemented element from one group... :(

I will contact the seller to ask for that missing piece of glass, hope he has it... Fingers crossed.

[Steven Tribe]

"Transparent crud" not a very nice description for vintage Canada Balsam!
It retains it's characteristic smell for centuries.

[buzzardkid]

"Transparent crud" not a very nice description for vintage Canada Balsam!
It retains it's characteristic smell for centuries.

That'll teach me! Should have smelled it before nuking it into oblivion with acetone:D