Protar VIIa Triple Convertible Pictures POST YOUR PROTAR VII PICS PLEASE

The Protar VIIa Zeiss Patent double anastigmat lens is a combination of 2 Protar VII single anastigmats, one in front of the aperture and the other behind the aperture. In this case we have a 16⅛" single protar at the front and a 11 3/16" single protar at the back. Both of the single groups are designed to work at f12.5 alone. Combined they create a 7½" combined focus of f7.7 maximum aperture. Yesterday afternoon I noticed the light of the setting sun coming in the tailgate of the Woody and quickly made the 3 images you see here on 5X7 inch film.

When working with the single anastigmats alone it's best to put them behind the aperture. These were all done about f22½ Tripod in same spot all 3. The Ford Station Wagon is a NO SMOKING zone!

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Pr...-5inch_01s.jpg
cowboy hat #4

VIIa #9 hempen @ 7½" combined focus

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Pr...11inch_01s.jpg
cowboy hat #5

VIIa #9 hempen @ 11 3/16" single protar vii anastigmat focus

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Pr...16inch_01s.jpg
cowboy hat #6

VIIa #9 hempen @ 16⅛" single protar vii anastigmat focus

The Protar VII was marketed as a direct competitor to the Goerz Dagor. The Dagor had to be symmetrical to work well, and the single groups of a Dagor used alone were poor at best even though it was marketed as a "doppel anastigmat" it really wasn't.

The Zeiss lens could be mixed and matched with different combinations and was fully corrected as a single component lens.

. . . with apologies to Andrew Glover; aka dagor77

POST YOUR PROTAR VII PICS PLEASE

One of the first lenses I had for 8x10 was a B&L Protar VIIa in a compound shutter that I bought in the early 70’s. It has a gouge out of the front element and some separation in the rear grouping but it made wonderful images. I don’t remember the exact focal lengths but think it was a 16, 19 and combined around 12-13”. I think I got rid of it to get a series III Berlin Dagon in an ilex shutter. The reason was the ilex was a better shutter than the half worn out compound the Protar was in.

All of these were shot around 1973-74

The images might be a little small as I’m posting them from an album on my phone.

Big Don's Elegant Junk. Is that your place Don? Love old gas stuff. What is the beastie in the 4rth image with the wonderful knobs?

Jim, no Big Don was another Don. He had two locations and this one was torn down in the early 80’s. Don had some pretty wild stuff in there. In the window was a Victorian coffin with a human skeleton in it in a Victorian dress. The story was she had been a slave. Don would rent her out to fraternities when they had parties until one day whoever rented her didn’t bring her back. My guess is she’s stored in the basement of one of the fraternities at the university.

The 4th shot is a flour milling machine. The grain would pass between steel rollers inside and milled into flour. I shot this one in 1973-74. I thought the building had burned but recently saw it and the house on the property for sale. My wife and I went out to take a look at it but the old milling equipment had been removed and modern equipment replaced it. All the character was gone.

For those interested, I had to shoot the milling machine through an open window from outside. Too little space and the building vibrates so badly from the running machines that it would have been impossible to make a long exposure. The exposure was 10 minutes stopped all the way down. I think it was equivalent to f64.

There are three other old mills near my house. One still operates but has been modernized and the other two have all the old milling equipment in them. They’re some distance apart but both have small engine repair shops in them. I’ve made images in both. Very cool places.

Here’s an exterior of the mill I posted the machine from and another interior. Lots of nice tones and textures inside.

Jim as part of the story on the mill here are tow medium format shots of the interiors. Both were shot with a Technika 70 on panatomic x and with a 53 f4 Super Angulon. As you know sometimes there’s just not enough space to setup an 8x10.

1st try at putting images on forum. Made testing the Attachment 201399Protar VIIa., Attachment 201398
Both were made wide open and focused on a single blossom near the middle of image.

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Crosses of San Francisco de Asis - Rancho de Taos, NM by Chris May, on Flickr

Korona 8x10
B&L 9 1/4" f6.3 Protar VIIa (two 16 3/16" cells)
Ilford FP4+
Ilfotec DD-X

Great lenses indeed, I love mine

B&L 12" f7 Protar VIIa ( 19" and 23 1/2" cells ) in betax 5# shutter
Toyo 810M
Ilford FP4+
Red filter
Pyrocat HD

Attachment 223109

And one more, with the 23 1/2" cell alone with red filter and a 6 stop ND. This was a 7 minute exposure

Attachment 223110

Also, I know it doesn't belong here, but I'd love to get my hands on another 23 1/2" cell and also a 27" cell. :)

Nice work, Mr. Szabo!

Thank you, Sir