It's attributes are pretty obvious; it's a fast 10-inch lens. It's a five-element derivative of the Cooke Triplet, having a formula similar to the Heliar. Whether it's "any good" depends on whether you appreciate its character. It's not very well corrected wide open; some people like that, some don't. If it's uncoated, it will be somewhat low in contrast, (as you'd expect). Put it on a lens board and see what you think!
"I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."
Thanks for the information Mark, do you know what they fetch second hand?
Having a problem mounting this as it too big, anyone else mounted this lens on a camera and if so what one, I have a Speed Graphic?
I put a 300/4.5 Heliar on a Graflex Super D once by making sort of a reversed sunken board--at the back it fit the camera, in front of that was a square extension tube, as large as I could make and leave enough board edge at the back for the camera to hold on to, then the front was slightly larger, with room for the lens to be put on by bolting the mounting ring on the front, outside, the whole thing made of 1/8" plywood glued together.
For this application, I'd try starting with a box the full external size of the board, with slits at the back for the lensboard locks to slide into (like a Graflock back fitting), then a front panel that's oversized--large enough for the lens to mount on. You might get some vignetting, more the longer your tube (the back of the lens is probably larger than the hole in the standard, behind the board, right?), so I'd make the tube as short and large as possible, to minimize that.
Where are you located Scott? In my wildest dreams you're actually the videographer named Scott Morgan who lives down the street from me, but assuming that you're not, someone from the forum was looking for one of these in July of this year. That thread is here. You may not have access to the For Sale/Wanted section of the forum at this point, but...
That member (not EdSawyer) did find one, so I'm not giving you a sales lead, but I guess that may give you a ballpark estimate of the market for them. I would say, take mdarnton's (and [from APUG] dan's) advice and try to use the thing! I would say they're very desirable in that focal length, but as always it depends on the condition.
Edit: There's one (254mm f/2.9) right now on that despicable auction site to which I cannot link.
Thanks for the information but i think it going to be a lot of work getting this on my speed graphic.
I live in the UK so i'm not the guy down your street haha.
Cant see the thread but will keep hold of it a little wile to see if I can use it.
it would probably work better on a camera with a larger lensboard. I'd try a Graflex RB SuperD, personally. Still has a focal plane shutter.
A 10" Pentac won't fit on a Graflex Super D without rebuilding the front standard, and would probably need a custom stand-off lensboard to fit on a Speed Graphic. They do work nicely on a 5x7 Home Portrait. The 10" models used to be uncommon, but there seems to be quite a few of them showing up recently on ebay and elsewhere. Many seem to be unused. I bought mine from a friend who got a box of them NATO surplus.
What is the approximate OD of the flange & the approximate OD of the barrel? 10" and that fast does sound really big for a 4x5 standard/board.
I'm curious to know how much that late-model, unused one on the auction site is going to go for... Sure it will skyrocket out of my price range in the last few hours tomorrow.
How much did your friend pay for that treasure chest?
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