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When I had a similar problem with bellows frames, I simply pried the frames off the wood standards (gently!), leaving the rusted screws in place. If the head of the screw is that rusted, the body...

It's an 8x10 studio camera that is meant to go on a studio stand, not on that tripod. It is missing the 8x10 spring back (or a reducing back to use 4x5 or 5x7), and someone has inserted a piece of...

I may be wrong, but that does not look like a factory plate for the aperture scales. Any trophy maker/engraver could have done that over the years for a just a few $$, these days anyone with a hobby...

Best lens? I've seen 400mm f4.5 Tessars, apparently 500mm f4.5 was made but rare and hard to find? A 400mm should cover 12x16in at portrait distance, 500mm would be better. Note on coverage: the...

You can polish off as much as you want, just by using a variety of grits and spending as much time as you want. You most definitely can change the curvature doing so, particularly if you use a...

I don't care if you delete the selling price of your filmholders or your 150mm Symmar-S. I do care if you delete prices of rare lenses. There are few non-paying ways to check prices of a lens that...

I have a couple of process lenses with similar slots, I gather they were for a specific filter used in making images for a printing process. I just put gaffer tape over the slits, after a few years...

Here's one in Canada. I'm tempted to order just to encourage a Canadian business.

https://www.naturalpigments.ca/canada-balsam.html

I see Ali Express now sells achromatic doublets for amateur telescope makers, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these? They come with either a blue or a green coating for astronomy,...

The old lens comparison charts often gave lp/mm wide-open, no?

I purchased 2 very old 11x14 contact printing frames several years ago, no glass, previous owner thought they were picture frames, but they were very, very heavy. When I opened them to put glass, I...

Do we know that the serial numbers are sequential? I understand Grubb made lenses in order to keep his workers employed when there were no large telescope orders, so he may have made batches of...

Best bet for an affordable lens in shutter would be a Xenar 210mm in Compound shutter. They're an extraordinary all-around lens, soft wide-open and great for portraiture, and sharp as any once you...

Happy to hear you're still working on this amazing project. And I hope that when you do take your show on the road, you will post an itinerary or give us a heads up, as there are a few members up...

I asked about dating the lens via the Waterhouse stop mounting position, as I believe the lens was made just as Waterhouse stops were invented, and no one had thought to place them at the optical...

I had a really good 2 weeks:

249526

Back row, left to right:

Grubb C2, Bausch & Lomb 12" f4 Petzval with soft focus adjustment on rear group, unknown maker 60cm f4.5 telephoto design aerial...

No issues whatsoever, nothing in normal photo chemistry will support a colony of bacteria, which is what would normally cause a health hazard in a home. The silver in your used fixer would serve to...

Just read through the whole thread, matches my personal experience. Comments:

1. Easiest way of separating any lens group, whether Canada Balsam or any lens cement I've ever encountered, is old...

Without getting political or even hinting at sides, it's been a very distressing 2 years for those of us who are personally bothered by pointless war and suffering. Some very rude person said to me...

I would like to propose a title: "Last thing James Bond sees before one of Blofeld's fantastically complicated assassination attempts finally succeeds"

Yes, I will post photos, I'm still unpacking from the show but I will set up the flashes perhaps later today. There were 4 other purchases that might interest forum members. I had a really good 2...

Weston (?) obsessed over poring at one of his nudes while the model was still in the room, worried that a barely visible glimpse of pubic hair would mean the photo would be rejected by galleries.

Another one for the lists, and I finally found a lens worthy of mounting on my 8x10 studio camera:

No 3032, engraved Grubb, Dublin, a C2 Petzval (16.25in f5, for 8x10), with a slide-in Waterhouse...

I dunno about a tripod, but using a scissor lift or cherry picker, sure. Especially if you don an orange reflective vest, hardhat and similar accoutrements.

I would have thought the phrase originated in a marketing department. If you want people to go see your color movie, you have to say that it's in color and not in black-and-white. It's a...

Agreed. 1/30 or above, or 1s or more. In between, only on perfectly still days or sheltered in deep woods.

I used to have the goal of dying with the most or bestest toys, but someone just won that competition, dying with a submersible piloted with a Logitech game controller.

Whatever you're doing is working for you, and I'm sure you're not going to let comments from random people on the Internet change your mind anyway.

The lens doesn't make the photograph, the...

Well that clears up a lot. To be more specific, I liked the images on your page, I just don't think the first few qualify as 'soft focus' in the traditional sense. And if that is what the lens...

Well I paid $30 for mine, I wasn't risking much. I originally clicked on it for the shutter, before researching the almost unknown 'Seminat'. I think an f3.5 Tessar is going to be somewhat soft...

I searched the forum and saw that you used one of these, that's largely why I bought it. But none of your images are showing up for me, the only pics I found taken with the lens were from the link I...

Being the curious type, I bought one to find out. 5" f3.5.

Preliminary investigation consisted of shining a flashlight on it, and comparing to similar lenses. It appears to be a bog-standard...

The vast majority of us, myself included, probably make better images with digital now. If I just want a picture of something, I use my phone like a normal person.

For some reason, I find it hard...

I'm going to try this, thanks

Nice find. You could easily flip it for a tidy profit, but I hope you take it for a spin and see if you like large format first.

My best find this year was a nearly mint Rolleicord V for CAD $15....

If money is no object, I'll wager Harrison made a 14" Globe lens.

Make sure the fungus is on one of the outer surfaces, not a degradation of the balsam glue. Each element has 2 outer surfaces and 4 inner (3 elements in 1 group, so 4 internal glass faces). ...

If there's no glass then heat the whole thing in the oven to loosen any old grease or threadlocker.

DAGOR = Doppel Anastigmat Goerz Optical R(?) - I forget what the R stood for. In German, of course.

I bought 5 bottles of a no-name copy off a dealer 2 years ago. Don't expect to run out any time soon.