Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
If the OP is looking for a "decent", "affordable", wide lens for 4x5, the chrome-finished Schneider Super-Angulon f/8 lenses are very good- and not expensive these days. If for 8x10, good luck- and see the long recent thread about "210s for 8x10" or something like that.
I've learned quite a bit about the history of view-camera wide lenses in this thread, for which I thank all the contributors.
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
goamules
Volute shutter dates to ~1902-1920, roughly.
Kent in SD
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pere Casals
:)
If you compare complete lenses then later Biogons are also completely different to the 1951 one:
Attachment 194502
Attachment 194503
Then add all derivatives around...
See the Super Angulons...
The question is: what makes a design be a biogon derivative ?
Actually, those designs, as well as any other in that family, are very similar. The basic design principle is that you have a group with negative power at each end of the lens, surrounding one group with positive power on each side of the aperture. However you slice and dice or cement these groups is immaterial to the basic concept. So the group order for all of these lenses would be like
- + I + -
where I denotes the aperture position.
As Kingslake notes in his text on the first Biogon and one of its predecessors, the Miniature Plasmat, the order there is:
+ - I + -
That is the main difference.
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Arne Croell
That is the main difference.
Thanks for the explanation !
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
With due respect to advocates of well-known, at least in the US, German lenses, photography was invented in France and French opticians were every bit as competent as their German counterparts.
Schneider's Angulon has only two advantages over Lacour-Berthiot's and S.O.M.-Berthiot's Ser. VIa Perigraphes. Angulons open wider and short ones are available in shutter. Ser. VIa Perigraphes open only to f/14 -- still faster than Protar Ser. Vs, which open to f/16 or f/18, depending on who made them -- and shorter ones can't be put in shutter.
But the 90/6.8 Angulon covers 81 degreees while the 90/14 Perigraphe covers at least 105 degrees. Barely 4x5, more than 5x7.
f/14 Perigraphes from 60 mm to 150 mm are all in the same barrel, which, by an odd coincidence, can be stuffed into the front of an Ilex #3 shutter and won't fall out. They're a slightly looser fit in Alphax #3. Shorter ones, like my 60/14, will be vignetted mechanically by an Ilex #3's rear tube. The solution was a radical tubectomy followed by drilling and tapping holes in the rear of the shutter body for screws to hold the shutter on a board. Skgrimes knows the trick.
In today's market, 90/14 Perigraphes are fairly common and asking prices, especially considering what what they can do, are quite low.. More are offered on ebay.fr and ebay.de than on ebay.com.
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pere Casals
. . . Neil, now we are rating "levels of decency" of glasses :) . . .
I liked Will's scale for affordable. Perhaps there's something like that in the scientific literature for levels of decency.
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Mr. Fromm's comments about the S.O.M. Berthiot lenses are quite interesting. I must admit that despite 38? years of experience with LF photography, amateur and professional, I have never seen or used any of their lenses. Of course a lot of that experience was pre-internet, and I'd never claim to be a lens expert, but it's nice to have my ignorance dispelled.... and to know that there are more, and different, good lenses out there to shoot with.
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
No one has ever lived up to the potential of the worst lens they've ever owned. Not even close...
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mark Sawyer
No one has ever lived up to the potential of the worst lens they've ever owned. Not even close...
True, but let me mention an exception is Ansel Adams !
He made "Monolith, the Face of Half Dome" with a crappy Adon, while he was illuminated with "holy divine inspiration" :) to invent the "sacred zone system".
Re: When did decent wide angles show up? [lens history question]
Going back between the first generation wide angles of the 1860s, and the anastigmats of the 1890s, there were a few more good ones. The R. D. Gray Extreme Wide Angle and the Morrison wides are very good. At least to me.
http://piercevaubel.com/cam/acc/lens...opeextreme.htm
Then there were Zentmayers....and .... lots of wide angles were available from the beginning of photography.