Wisner 8 x 10 Plasmat set

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

Does anyone here own and use one of these sets. There is a set for sale locally and I would like to know how you like your set???

[Mark Sampson]

There is, or was, a review of that lens set on the front page of this site. I wonder how many were actually made and sold?

[Oren Grad]

There was a review in View Camera magazine - IIRC it was an actual user review, not just a glorified press release. Rummaging around on the VC website I see in their index that it was in the Jan/Feb 1998 issue.

[Tracy Storer]

He got the glass from Schneider and turned his own cell mounts, I believe in brass. (He was blackening some brass parts during one of my many visits)
If I'm not mistaken, it was essentially a G Claron "Casket Set".
He stopped making them when Schneider discontinued the GC.

[Kevin Crisp]

I had the 5X7 set for about 6 months. Nicely made, cool box and brass plate with focal lengths and apertures. It was excellent when using combined lenses. Single lenses I simply found unusuable even when stopped down a long way. Looking at the negative when lifting it out of the fixer you could tell at once the edges were fuzzy.

But, as mechanically interesting as it is, you have to serious question the expense for "different" focal lengths that are actually mighty close to each other. You would never go out and buy lenses so close together.

[Sal Santamaura]

...Single lenses I simply found unusuable even when stopped down a long way. Looking at the negative when lifting it out of the fixer you could tell at once the edges were fuzzy...

Even with the "zero power corrector" in use?

[Kevin Crisp]

Ah yes, the zero power corrector. I did not have that. I believe they were back ordered for years before the time I had my set. Using what I had, it wasn't in the same league as a single element protar if you adjusted for focus shift. Or Wollensock convertibles, which were excellent.

I don't think this was merely G Clarons in new settings. There is a long ago thread here by someone who claims he did the actually lens design that was used, and didn't get paid for it.

[Tracy Storer]

I don't think this was merely G Clarons in new settings. There is a long ago thread here by someone who claims he did the actually lens design that was used, and didn't get paid for it.

That is certainly a possibility, all I know is that Ron told me he was buying glass from Schneiders catalog, and now that you mention it, he may have said something about recombining them in different ways.(it was like 15 years ago) That and the reason he stopped making them was because the G Claron was discontinued and he needed components from them.