Kodak / Century - what?

[Dave Ogle]

Hopefully there is a photo here. anyway , old lens with around 300mm focal length, convertible. says Eastman kodak co successor to Century Camera Co
F scale 8 - 128, F scale 16 - 256. Bausch & Lomb. shutter speed dail. Century 1 2 5 15 50 100 b t.
2 leaf shutter. have not used it. are these things any good?
Thanks, Dave O

[Louis Pacilla]

Its a common but perfectly good rapid rectilinear so probably around 12" and starts at f8 combined and probably f16-18 when converted and it looks to be symmetrical and should be 20-25" FL when converted. You'll want to remember to use the single cell behind the shutter when using it but since it's not a triple convertible you simply unscrew the front cell and follow the upper marked f scale marked 'B' for back.

On the shutter, I have found unless this style of shutter has been stored VERY WELL in a climate controlled way and in terrific condition to work this many years down the road. So if your thinking on using this rapid rectilinear you should probably plan on using more like a barrel lens.

This successor to is how Eastman Co wanting to let you know they where GIANTS and gobbling all their competitors up around that time frame. It was truly the fact that Century was taken over by Eastman so during the first year or so they marked a few things here and there to let use know it they are now under the Eastman umbrella.

[Jim Jones]

The aperture scale of this lens appears to be in the old U.S. system where the maximum opening of 8 is equal to f/11. The U.S. system was created to simplify exposure calculation, and hasn't been used for many decades.

[scheinfluger_77]

Jim couldn't we also say that "16" is equal to "f/16"? That makes it easier to calibrate, in my mind anyway. The first few times I ran into "256" had me scratching my head until figuring this out.