old lens

[clarkbjc]

I have a studio that has been in business since 1888. I have quite a few old lenses and cameras and have found info on most them but I'm not finding much on a Gundlach Optical Co. Anastigmat 14 in. lens Patent May 14-95 #51044. (Turner-Reich) Rochester N Y.

Thanks
Brad

[lenser]

Brad,

Go to Cameraeccentric.com and get into the information section. Seth has tons of old catalogs and brochures posted in full and Turner-Reich lenses are included in more than one Gundlach Optical publication. Your lens should be found there.

[Steven Tribe]

This is a well known American speciality lens that had 5 cemented lens front and rear.
As you can image, it is not too easy to correct delamination! Some are still OK dispite the many decades.

[clarkbjc]

Thanks for the information and Steven it does have delamination

[Jim Galli]

There were a couple of different Series of these. They were convertibles. Some had the same focal length front and rear, and others were un-symmetrical giving 3 different possible focal lengths.

They don't get the same respect as the Zeiss Protar convertibles did. I have several and consider them great users. Others report there was a wide range of possible quality from lens to lens. Gundlach was sort of famous for their own cockeyed designs. Add a fifth glass to a Protar (turner reich) and don't pay the license fees. Add a 3rd glass to the back of a Tessar (radar) and don't pay the license fees.

They were standard issue with the Kodak Cirkut cameras and I can report that the single 18" element from a 10 3/4" 18" 24" combination lens is astonishingly sharp on my #10 Cirkut. I'm a fan. They're fun because they're still cheap.

[Fotoguy20d]

I'll echo Jim. I have a 12-21-28 (in Alphax) on my 8x10 and a #1 (I forget the focal lengths but its in an old Kodak ball bearing shutter) on my 4x5. They can be quite sharp, with the caveat that they focous shift when stopped down.

Dan