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Wondering about Darlot RR lenses (hemispherique.) What order were they produced? Some have rotary stops--I figure those are 1880-1890s. Then there are the ones with stops attached to levers
Finally there is another style that's sort of like a Petzval with sliding barrel sleeve, locking screw, and takes waterhouse stops. What order were they produced?
Kent in SD
This one will have to be pieced together, most likely from dated catalogs and not-well-dated individual specimens.
The well-known 1890's Benjamin French & Co. Catalog shows the Darlot Wide Angle Hemispherical with the lever stops as a starting point...
https://www.antiquecameras.net/1890lenscatalogue.html
I also heard from Milan Z., a lens scholar, that the "earliest" lever stop Darlots were a different design than later. He said the first ones were more like a Harrison Globe. But I've never seen one that looks any different.
So why did they have 3 stops arrangement?
Kent in SD
It gave the photographer his choice of four different apertures, one for each lever, or wide open. It was a convenient and reliable arrangement; I've seen a number of the lever-stop Darlots, and have two myself, all in excellent working order.Quote:
Originally Posted by Two23
OK, I was too ambiguous. Why did Darlot make RR lenses with Waterhouse stops, lever stops, and rotary stops? I was assuming that the Waterhouse sliding barrel style came first, maybe 1865- 187?, then the lever stops during 1870s, and finally the rotary stops up into the 1890s. Apparently there was a lot of overlapping?
Kent in SD
Darlot were innovators. They came up with a lot of interesting variations of technologies, if not outright patentable inventions. I went to the big Paris camera show twice, and it was amazing some of the strange lens concepts you'd find by Jamin or Darlot.