Brass lens suggestion for a 4x5 camera

[Jimi]

Perhaps this is one of these "how long is a piece of string" questions ... so I apologise.

I am looking for a brass lens that should work for 4x5" size, with a focal length somewhere between say, 130 to 180 mm, i.e. normal. Finding something longer (or way too long) is easy, but this span seems much harder to find.

So far I have not found much, but I am not sure what to look for except very general terms such as Aplanat, Rapid Rectilinear etc. A Petzval needs to be longer than 180 to cover I suppose and prices are going way beyond my wallet.

Any tips?

[xkaes]

Since you mention your wallet, just buy a lens that does what you want it to do -- along with a bit of brass paint.

[Mark Sawyer]

So far I have not found much, but I am not sure what to look for except very general terms such as Aplanat, Rapid Rectilinear etc. A Petzval needs to be longer than 180 to cover I suppose and prices are going way beyond my wallet.

Aplanats and Rapid Rectilinears are not Petzvals, so don't look for those. On a smaller Petzval, you'll need something around f/4.5 or faster to really show the Petzval's signature. There are a lot of magic lantern Petzvals around for fairly inexpensive prices that might work for you. More modern projection Petzvals like the Cinephor show a lot of the swirly signature, but have a chrome or nickel finish over the brass, so they don't look like a brass lens cosmetically. Are you after the "Petzval look" in the images, or the "brass lens look" on the front of the camera, or something else completely?

[DG 3313]

I'm no expert....but, I own one brass lens (6" Cooke Series 2). I love what it does in front of a Sinar shutter.
Don

[Jimi]

Thanks for the suggestions - brass paint cans and whatnots ...

Perhaps I should say something about what I want to use the lens for. It is mainly landscape (urban or otherwise). I know Petzvals aren't Aplanats, and I am leaning towards something "neutral" which probably means an Aplanat lens. The camera itself is just going to be a light tight box, so I don't need large coverage. Perhaps in the future I might have a go at making a portrait or two, and I might look for something else if turns out to be something I want to continue doing.

I am after the "brass lens look" on the camera (yes, yes, shallow indeed!), lower contrast in the images, reasonably straight lines whenever they show up in man-made structures.

[Tobias Key]

Are you looking for a 19th century lens or just an uncoated lens?

I have seen quite a lot of stuff here:

http://www.mwclassic.com/product-cat...-plate/page/3/

Never bought from them myself, but they seem to have a lot of lenses around the 150mm mark.

Whether they are just a load of old Tessars and you might just be better off with a newer Tessar I can't say. Everyone is looking for lenses that are bad in a good way, unlike modern lenses which are of course good in a bad way. These might just be bad in a bad way and you'll have the worst of both worlds!!

[Ray Heath]

G'day Jimi
I recently acquired a smaller brass lens and built a 4x5 box camera to fit it to.
These brass lenses, though physically large, have quite restricted coverage. I was planning on buliding a 5x8 camera but the lens doesn't cover that much.
This lens measures about 165mm focal length. The only engraving on the lens is Ross and a serial number.
How do I determine what type of lens it is?

[Steven Tribe]

Well the title on thumbnail says "Petzval" and I would be surprised if it was something else!

Ross was naughty about labelling this Petzvals until quite late, so this is likely a CdeV no.1 or no.2. He did make some smaller ones as stereoscopic pairs (Now often split up). I think it is a no.2. There are Ross catalogues which will give the size from a precise focal length. Yes, coverage of Petzvals is very limited and you will need a larger Petzval (from the old CdeV size up to the medium Cabinet size - lens weighing about a kilo).

This sort of simple camera (sliding box type) is a very suitable for small old Petzvals - especialy for alternative photography - like tintypes. I have a few projects in hand with putting similar early lenses to work on sliding box cameras.

[Jimi]

I am familiar with MW Classic - bought a few things there - there used to be more interesting stuff but it seems to have dried up a bit. I am snooping around a bit for something suitable - we'll see what I come up with eventually.

Ray, very nice little "pill box" - is it a sliding box or it is a fixed focus camera?

[Ray Heath]

G'day Steven
Thanks for the info. I found a page at http://antiquecameras.net/rosslenses.html that shows what appears to be original Ross advertisements.
If I assume that the stated measurements are a bit loose then my lens would match the stated specs for a CdeV No.3, 2.5 inch diameter and a focal length of 6 inches. Which I actually measured to the waterhouse slot to be closer to 6.5 inches.