Fotoguy20d
25-Jan-2011, 06:32
I just received my latest lot of large format folly.
I was basically bidding on a Series VII Protar in Alphax (which turned out to be a very nice 7" combined (13 3/4" and 11 3/16"), and the shutter works quite nicely and is scaled for all three focal lengths). There was also a 4x5 Tessar Ic in barrel and a mystery lens in Betax. The Betax sadly turned out to be pretty much trash (missing the shutter lever), although once it warmed up, the aperture blades moved although a bit stiffly so not a total loss. But, the lens turned out to be a 7" f4.5 Velostigmat Series II in nice shape. From looking at Camera Eccentric (admittedly, I didn't look in every Wolly catalog), I saw a 7 1/2, covering 5x7 but not a 7" (which is what the lens clearly says). It looks to be Tessar construction? There's no soft focus control, but is there a way to do so manually? Is this achieved by spacing the front cells or spacing the front pair from the rear pair? It fit perfectly into the Alphax shutter for my 159mm f12.5 8x10 WA Wolly, and the spacing seemed right. I'm guessing it would also fit into the Alphax that came with the Protar, if I can manage to remove the rear adapter ring?
Does anyone know approximately how to date the Protar? Serial numbers for both elements were in the 2 millions. Shutter is most likely a later mod - the scales are on a glued on plate instead of engraved into the face of the shutter?
Thanks,
Dan
I was basically bidding on a Series VII Protar in Alphax (which turned out to be a very nice 7" combined (13 3/4" and 11 3/16"), and the shutter works quite nicely and is scaled for all three focal lengths). There was also a 4x5 Tessar Ic in barrel and a mystery lens in Betax. The Betax sadly turned out to be pretty much trash (missing the shutter lever), although once it warmed up, the aperture blades moved although a bit stiffly so not a total loss. But, the lens turned out to be a 7" f4.5 Velostigmat Series II in nice shape. From looking at Camera Eccentric (admittedly, I didn't look in every Wolly catalog), I saw a 7 1/2, covering 5x7 but not a 7" (which is what the lens clearly says). It looks to be Tessar construction? There's no soft focus control, but is there a way to do so manually? Is this achieved by spacing the front cells or spacing the front pair from the rear pair? It fit perfectly into the Alphax shutter for my 159mm f12.5 8x10 WA Wolly, and the spacing seemed right. I'm guessing it would also fit into the Alphax that came with the Protar, if I can manage to remove the rear adapter ring?
Does anyone know approximately how to date the Protar? Serial numbers for both elements were in the 2 millions. Shutter is most likely a later mod - the scales are on a glued on plate instead of engraved into the face of the shutter?
Thanks,
Dan