Plasticca info anyone?

[Craig Tuffin]

I've just received my 1928 28cm Plasticca in incredible condition and just looked through it and can't believe its coverage...I think it'll cover 11x14. What an incredibly wide angle glowing meniscus...I'm going to have fun with this one :p

I've got an Eidoscope as well but the specular highlights glow so unbelievably differently with the meniscus.

The questions I've got before I do some tests are:

1) What was the yellow filter designed for...to improve contrast? Can you shoot without it and what would the difference be?

2) How will it behave when using with a medium like wet plate...particularly when you consider wet plate is tuned toward the blue and UV end of the spectrum while Reds are rendered as blacks?

I'd be very interested hearing some experiences.

[Emil Schildt]

Congrats Craig.

I have one excately like it.

I can't help you with the wet plate question as I don't do that my self.

The coverage seems very big, but be careful! I actually think this was made for half plate or smaller size.
in 13x18cm (5x7) it starte to go really crazy, and in 8x10 most of the image will be a total blur....

which of course can be interesting/fun to have...

here's a couple of images, made with Plasticca 28cm.

http://www.emilschildt.com/OLD%20LENS%20images01.htm

formats from 9x12cm to 18x24cm...

(the yellow filter is to highten contrast)

I am curious to see what you can do with this lens.!!

Show us as soon as possible....


I've just received my 1928 28cm Plasticca in incredible condition and just looked through it and can't believe its coverage...I think it'll cover 11x14. What an incredibly wide angle glowing meniscus...I'm going to have fun with this one :p

I've got an Eidoscope as well but the specular highlights glow so unbelievably differently with the meniscus.

The questions I've got before I do some tests is:

1) What was the yellow filter designed for...to improve contrast? Can you shoot without it and what would the difference be?

2) How will it behave when using with a medium like wet plate...particularly when you consider wet plate is tuned toward the blue and UV end of the spectrum while Reds are rendered as blacks?

I'd be very interested hearing some experiences.

[eddie]

i used mine very successfully on wet plate.

a 280mm on 11x14? hhhhhmmmm?

mine is 450mm! :p

[Craig Tuffin]

Thanks Emil!

Yeah it is significantly stretched and distorted at 11x14 but it doesn't darken (I should have been more specific) so experimenting on 8x10 will be fun :p

I figured the yellow filter would be for contrast. Pretty useless with wet plate when the collodion age determines contrast more than anything else.

I'll post some scans soon.

Eddie....yeah, I wanted a longer FL but this one came up for a song with its original cap and box in near mint condition so I just couldn't say no.

You shot yours with and without the filter? Show me some plates!

[Craig Tuffin]

http://www.emilschildt.com/OLD%20LENS%20images01.htm

Very nice work as usual Emil!!!

I can see the pictoralist in me coming out with this lens. I'll pretend to be a poor copy of Julia Margaret Cameron for a day :rolleyes:

[Steven Tribe]

Note that the extra yellow filter was given up in the later 20's and replaced with a permanent yellow/beige dye in the balsam of the "achromat". Contrary to popular belief, the lens works with other than nudes. The recommended coverages are given in the catalogue at Cameraeccentric.

[Emil Schildt]

Contrary to popular belief, the lens works with other than nudes. .

WHAT.....:eek:

[eddie]

i cant find the plates.

i am not sure about the "filter" while mine is yellow in color there is no removable "filter" of any kind.

i may have given the plates away and not sure i can find them in my archives.....

[alex from holland]

Craig, sorry i get into your thread, but i have also "such" a lens.
Mine is a 500 mm f4 with the following tekst
Portrait objectiv kronar 500mm f4 oscar simon dresden
But it has not a yellowish look. It's just a single element lens
http://www.pbase.com/alex28/image/131748228.jpg

[Craig Tuffin]

A nice lens Alex and a perfect focal length for bigger plates.

Have you shot anything with it yet?

[alex from holland]

A nice lens Alex and a perfect focal length for bigger plates.

Have you shot anything with it yet?

Nope not yet.
I have tried several soft focus lenses for wet plate, but somehow it doesn't work right.
Lot's of unpleasant glow.

alex

[Steven Tribe]

This is a later "Kronar" follow-on from the Plasticca production after Zweirzina left Dresden in a hurry (mid 1930's)!
Plasticca range had a 60cm but not the useful (sizewise) 50cm.
I have a feeling that the very dramatic soft lenses and most alternative processes don't combine too well - too many variables?

[Emil Schildt]

This is a later "Kronar" follow-on from the Plasticca production after Zweirzina left Dresden in a hurry (mid 1930's)!
Plasticca range had a 60cm but not the useful (sizewise) 50cm.
I have a feeling that the very dramatic soft lenses and most alternative processes don't combine too well - too many variables?

This Kronar is only the second I have seen.. rare? (A frend of mine has one)

Alex: try it out and show us - at least some made in a "normal" technique.. I am curious..

Steven: I do think that soft focus (drematic) images can be used for alternative techniques. I certainly can think of some...

But I don't know about the wet plate - maybe the "mistakes" in pouring interfear with the image?

[eddie]

I have a feeling that the very dramatic soft lenses and most alternative processes don't combine too well - too many variables?

this one DOES.



But I don't know about the wet plate - maybe the "mistakes" in pouring interfear with the image?

normally soft focus lenses do not work well with wet plate. this one does. i have used it with great success.

eddie

[Craig Tuffin]

this one DOES.



normally soft focus lenses do not work well with wet plate. this one does. i have used it with great success.

eddie

I remember this plate...nice one Eddie!!!

Emil...I think you should try wet-plate...you'd be outstanding!!!

I was also a believer that SF lenses don't work with Ambrotypes or Tintypes...that they needed some area of sharpness. However, when considering wet plate negatives, I think the transition to an albumen or salt print actually works very, very well. Julia Margaret Cameron is one of my heros and I don't think she has a sharp image in her complete body of work. She worked in minutes rather than seconds most of the time so sharpness was out.

I recently tried to prove my theory wrong by finally shooting an ambrotype with my eidoscope instead of leaving it in the cabinet until the film came out.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6005/6017123177_4f368a7f89_b.jpg

[Steven Tribe]

Alex, do you have problems getting an acceptible focus with the 50cm O.Simon Kronar with close images? Our friend in Oslo finds the 60cm Plasticca doesn't produce a sharp central area in a small studio.

[eddie]

Basically the glow from the sf makes the plate look over exposed. U need to print a WP neg to get the glow. Just like a regular Neg image.

John coffer and I had this talk when I was shooting my eidoscope at his place. I kept cutting the exposure till there was zero details and it looked like mush. I switched to my Cooke and the negs were perfect.

[alex from holland]

I have yried my eidoscope which was acceptable.
2 weeks ago i tried a nice Darlot d'artiste which showed a beautiful picture on the ground glass, but in real it looked horrible

I haven't tried this kronar yet. Will try ot in the coming weeks. Have tp make a new lensplate for it.... Time, time, time

[Steven Tribe]

Some extra information about the Plasticca!
This thread has the best title, but the other “Plasticca” threads have lots of information too.

I have just got hold of an example of the Netherlands version of Germany Plasticca. We already know about the Kronar version which I think comes from Belgium. This no information about it’s German origin - just CAPI and “amateur Plasticca” along with 200mm, F4.5 and a very high serial number. The style of the engraving in the lens ring is exactly the same as the German version.

CAPI, as our Low Countries colleagues will tell us, are the initials of C.A.P. Ivens, who had a very successful photoshop chain in the Netherlands. They still exist as CAPI-LUX - but are no longer in the photographic trade (who is!).

I have always wondered why the Plasticca catalogue in cameraeccentric included many recommendations- all from residents in The Netherlands.
There is no indication that this is produced by CAPI, except that the smaller focal lengths are given the “amateur” label - which doesn’t appear on the German engraving.

Anyway, here is my new 200mm. I can confirm the presence of a pale yellow plane glass as the rear “lens”. The front lens is much further away from the rear filter than was the case in my old 600mm version. The smaller versions were also made to be directly mounted in shutters - which I will check out

[Ron (Netherlands)]

CAPI, as our Low Countries colleagues will tell us, are the initials of C.A.P. Ivers, who had a very successful photoshop chain in the Netherlands. They still exist as CAPI-LUX - but are no longer in the photographic trade (who is!).


Hello Steven, the name reads C.A.P. Ivens which stands for Cornelis Adrianus Peter Ivens, son of the photographer Wilhelm Ivens. C.A.P. was father of the well known cineast Joris Ivens. Don't think they made any photographic supplies themselves, but were merely retailers.

His newly opened shop in Amsterdam (may 1916):

https://kpmg0072.home.xs4all.nl/Ivens/Ivens%204.jpeg

customers in his shop in Amsterdam:

https://kpmg0072.home.xs4all.nl/Ivens/Ivens%201.jpeg

darkroomfacilities in is shop in Amsterdam:

https://kpmg0072.home.xs4all.nl/Ivens/Ivens%203.jpeg

Art Deco interior:

https://kpmg0072.home.xs4all.nl/Ivens/Ivens%205.jpeg

[Steven Tribe]

We talk about the rear yellow filter of the Plasticca but it is very pale - at least now - almost 100 years on from production. This one is even paler than the one shown in #19.
Note this example has the original barrel engraving rather than the period text front ring identification that most Plasticcas have.

[Andrzej]

Alex, do you have problems getting an acceptible focus with the 50cm O.Simon Kronar with close images? Our friend in Oslo finds the 60cm Plasticca doesn't produce a sharp central area in a small studio.
Because it was not focused properly. My guess.