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stradibarrius
15-Oct-2011, 07:01
Is there a place that describes the differences in Agulons, Symmars, Plasmats, Dagors on and on.
John Kasaian
15-Oct-2011, 07:20
View Camera magazine ran a series of articles a few years ago. Then there is Kingslake's excellent book on Photographic Lenses (a copy should be in every LF'ers library, IMHO) I hope this helps.
Jim Jones
15-Oct-2011, 07:35
The full title of Rudolf Kingslake's basic book on photography is Lenses in Photography. A copy is always at hand near my computer. I believe he has also written more advanced books than this fine 1951 introduction.
E. von Hoegh
15-Oct-2011, 07:38
Angulon= "reverse" Dagor
Doppel Anastigmat Symmar = Dagor type
First series of convertible Symmar (triple convertible, scarce) = Dagor type
Second series, 2 focal lengths, Symmar - Plasmat type
Symmar-S = Plasmat type

Believe it or not, wikipedia has some decent info on lens types. Probably cribbed from Kingslake's book and others.

For example:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmat_lens
Steve Hamley
15-Oct-2011, 08:00
The home page here has some information that might be useful:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/classic-experts.html

Browse the home page and you might find more useful info.

Cheers, Steve
Dan Fromm
15-Oct-2011, 08:36
Barry, Dan Colucci, who posts here as ccharrison, sells A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum on CD ROM. The VM is incoherent, incomplete, inconsistent, infuriating, and invaluable. Buy a copy and study it closely. Imperfect as it is, it is the best thing going.
CCHarrison
15-Oct-2011, 08:38
Sorry for the commercial - but the Vade Mecum can be found here:

http://antiquecameras.net/lensvademecum.html

Best
Dan
Mark Sawyer
15-Oct-2011, 09:54
The Vade Mecum is excellent for deciphering the basic design and manufacturer of common and obscure lenses. Kingslake tells a bit more about design evolution and the technical pluses and minuses of the different designs. But for what the different lenses actually do, the second-best resource is wasting hour after hour in this forum's Image Sharing and Discussion threads...

(The best is wasting money in the For Sale section!) :)