Is this worth keeping?

[MPrice]

I've had this lens for years and never really gotten around to shooting anything with it but every time I go to sell it something makes me hold on to it, I think it's the clunk of the shutter that seems to still be right on despite it's age, pretty cool to watch the tab swing up when it fires off. Anyhow, I'm going through all the stuff that's not getting used and trying to decide if this is something to sell or hold onto. I can't seem to find any real information on it so figured I'd see if anybody here had anything that they could share.

Here's the info if you can't read it in the pics: Goerz Dagor F/6.8, Focus 9 1/2 in. No. 399866. Glass is in pretty good shape with one tiny scuff, might be single coated(?).

Thanks in advance, I appreciate it.

[pierre506]

The lens is good and the Goerz American product.
9.5in dagor covers 8X10.

Let it go if you don't use it.
Keep it if you use it.

[Stephanie Brim]

The short answer is yes. The longer one is that if you don't use it, it's likely better off with someone who will. However, if you do sell it, look up its worth. Heh.

[Fotoguy20d]

Based on the serial number, it's not coated. As someone said, it covers 8x10 with movements (when stopped down) And, take off the front glass and it's around 1.8x the focal length and still a nice lens. Mine is in the low 2s (which puts it around 1908) and my primary 8x10 lens. If you don't use it, it'll sell quick (and do check the value first - you'll be surprised)

Dan

[IanG]

It may have been coated. My 1939/40 12" Dagor was factory coated after WWII according to the original owner.

My Dagor came with a camera the 2nd owner had never used it at all prefering to use a 300mm Nikon M instead, he thought it too old :D I've found mine to be a superb lens very sharp plenty of contrast.

You have to decide if you'll use it, there's plenty who'd buy it and use it if you decided to sell.

Ian

[Michael E]

I think it's the clunk of the shutter that seems to still be right on despite it's age, pretty cool to watch the tab swing up when it fires off.

And the easiest way to mess up a perfectly working shutter is to let it sit unused.

[John Kasaian]

9-1/2"/240mm is a great fl lens for an 8x10 and Goerz Dagors are definately the cream of the crop. If you shoot 8x10 or are thinking of doing so, I'd hang on to it. even if you already have a 240mm, it old make a fine back up, IMHO.
I have 10" WF Ektar as a back up for my 240 G Claron (or is it the other way around?)

[E. von Hoegh]

I've had this lens for years and never really gotten around to shooting anything with it but every time I go to sell it something makes me hold on to it, I think it's the clunk of the shutter that seems to still be right on despite it's age, pretty cool to watch the tab swing up when it fires off. Anyhow, I'm going through all the stuff that's not getting used and trying to decide if this is something to sell or hold onto. I can't seem to find any real information on it so figured I'd see if anybody here had anything that they could share.

Here's the info if you can't read it in the pics: Goerz Dagor F/6.8, Focus 9 1/2 in. No. 399866. Glass is in pretty good shape with one tiny scuff, might be single coated(?).

Thanks in advance, I appreciate it.

Worth keeping? Do you value your health and sanity?

Dagors are well known for harboring evil spirits, demons, incubae, succubae, doppelgangers, sylphs, sprites, and other maleficent spirits, known and unknown. Just having one in your house can cause constipation, flatulence, forgetfulness, impotence, satyriasis, baldness, shrinking gonads, gout, insanity, and higher interest on your mortgage. Excorsisms don't work.


Send it to me ASAP, I have a special containment area for lenses like this. Really. Send it soon. I'm surprised you can still type.

[MPrice]

Thanks for the help everybody, I guess it's good I didn't just list it for $100 years ago although that might have avoided some of the afflictions above...

My impression was that there were a lot of different flavors of Dagors and for whatever reason I just assumed that this one was on the bottom end of things. I have one other lens that covers 8x10 at this point so I might end up selling this one although as has been the case in the past I'm tempted to continue to hold on to it just in case. Anybody have a rough idea of what it's worth or know where I can look to find out?

[Jody_S]

Thanks for the help everybody, I guess it's good I didn't just list it for $100 years ago although that might have avoided some of the afflictions above...

My impression was that there were a lot of different flavors of Dagors and for whatever reason I just assumed that this one was on the bottom end of things. I have one other lens that covers 8x10 at this point so I might end up selling this one although as has been the case in the past I'm tempted to continue to hold on to it just in case. Anybody have a rough idea of what it's worth or know where I can look to find out?

I don't know what this particular lens is worth to someone, but I know how to tell if it's worth anything to you: shoot a photo (or 2, or 10) with it. I'm very happy with my 9-1/2" German Dagor.

[boswald]

Compare it on the same shot to your other lens, rig up a temporary board if you have to. Use decent film so you
can really compare- it's worth the cost to find what you like, not go by someone else's opinion.

I would be safe with it however, my people are magic-free and thus magic-proof.

[goamules]

Dagors are great, but their prices are all over the map. I just checked completed sales, ignoring the more expensive Gold Dot/Rim ones. For example, a few longer ones sold for way over $1000, but a couple sold for under $500, in a good Ilex shutter 230862292035. A 9.5" like yours, but not in a shutter, just sold for $295. 271068669114. They are all over the place for prices because they were made for decades. But they are loved. I think sometimes a bidding war gets the price pretty high just because one is in a good, more recent shutter. Compound shutters are good, but bidders want modern Ilex and Copal shutters usually.

[E. von Hoegh]

Thanks for the help everybody, I guess it's good I didn't just list it for $100 years ago although that might have avoided some of the afflictions above...

My impression was that there were a lot of different flavors of Dagors and for whatever reason I just assumed that this one was on the bottom end of things. I have one other lens that covers 8x10 at this point so I might end up selling this one although as has been the case in the past I'm tempted to continue to hold on to it just in case. Anybody have a rough idea of what it's worth or know where I can look to find out?
You really should try it before you decide. When focussing, be sure to check the focus at the aperture you'll be using; these lenses get longer as you stop down.

I have a pre WWI Berlin (240mm) version in barrel, as well as a 1910-ish New York version (9 1/2") in an early Compound. They give a little movement on 8x10 at small apertures.

[MPrice]

Thanks for all of the input, I think I'll probably hold on to it until I can try it out. Sounds like it's worth somewhere in the range of $3-400 which is definitely more than I would have thought so glad I didn't sell it previously...

[E. von Hoegh]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Goerz-Dagor-9-1-2-f-6-8-in-Compound-Shutter-/150936118224?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item23247e63d0

I wonder did he try it out....

[MPrice]

I had hoped to just keep it but the arrival of the CC bill helped to convince me otherwise....I seriously doubt it'll go for that but if it does I can't afford to be holding on to it for the chance that I may get another 8x10 down the road at some point, we'll see.

[E. von Hoegh]

I had hoped to just keep it but the arrival of the CC bill helped to convince me otherwise....I seriously doubt it'll go for that but if it does I can't afford to be holding on to it for the chance that I may get another 8x10 down the road at some point, we'll see.

You should remove your claim that it is coated. It isn't, based on the serial number. Goerz coatings were sapphire blue and pretty obvious.

[MPrice]

Thought somebody here said it might be, guess I'll take that off..thanks.

[E. von Hoegh]

Thought somebody here said it might be, guess I'll take that off..thanks.

The shutter might be made of platinum, too... but it probably isn't.

I have a 6" NY dagor from about 1908 - 10, it has such a deep and even purple bloom that it could easily pass as a single coated lens except for the fact that said bloom is on the outer surfaces, with none on the inside surfaces where it would actually do some good.
These uncoated lenses get all sorts of nice colors on the outer surfaces with age, it doesn't mean they're coated.
As for the stories about used lenses being factory coated, take those cum grano salis too. It was done, but it wasn't a small job and it wasn't cheap for a cemented lens like the Dagor.

[Bill_1856]

The shutter might be made of platinum, too... but it probably isn't.

I have a 6" NY dagor from about 1908 - 10, it has such a deep and even purple bloom that it could easily pass as a single coated lens except for the fact that said bloom is on the outer surfaces, with none on the inside surfaces where it would actually do some good.
These uncoated lenses get all sorts of nice colors on the outer surfaces with age, it doesn't mean they're coated.
As for the stories about used lenses being factory coated, take those cum grano salis too. It was done, but it wasn't a small job and it wasn't cheap for a cemented lens like the Dagor.

Coating, whether in the factory or privately done, is only on the air/glass surfaces. There are four of them on a Dagor, so it would be a relatively straghtforward job.

[E. von Hoegh]

Coating, whether in the factory or privately done, is only on the air/glass surfaces. There are four of them on a Dagor, so it would be a relatively straghtforward job.

No it wouldn't. You have to unmount the lens - some were spun into the brass cells - uncement the cells, coat the two surfaces, and recement, then remount, the glass.

[cyberjunkie]

For what i know, any multicoating treatment is done at high temperature, enough to melt Canada balsam (and probably most, if not all, modern cements).
Factory single coating was done the same way, but there is a kind of anti-reflection single coating treatment that is done at room temperature.
I don't know if it's effective with photographic lenses, and if it was ever used post-WWII to coat lenses that were made pre-war.
I suppose the answer is yes, as i found reports of lenses which were coated IN BARREL (with evidence of a coating layer deposited on the external surface of the barrel).
AFAIK, the largest project which involved the coating of pre-war lenses was done by B&J, with german made glasses (war booty?), often rebranded Carl Meyer, and made available with their "Lens Bank".
Being european, and born in the late fifties, i have no first hand experience of B&J coating service, and no knowledge about the coating technology they used.
Though i am sure there are forum members who know a a few things about it...

[Dan Fromm]

Coating, whether in the factory or privately done, is only on the air/glass surfaces.

Why do you believe that?

[Dan Fromm]

CJ, when Eric Beltrando and I were discussing the problem of dating Boyer lenses (we published what we determined in an article on the French LF site) he told me that after Boyer "started" coating they offered coating service to owners of their uncoated older lenses. I wrote "started" because, according to Eric, Boyer sent lens elements to SOM to be coated until they got their own coating chamber sometime in the '70s.

[Jim Galli]

That lens is easily replaced. So, if you need a wide field 8X10 lens, it's an excellent choice. If you don't, sell it. It could always be duplicated later if the need came. It isn't rare. Probably fetch $285 - ish on ebay just now.