Differences in Dagors over the years?

[John Kasaian]

There are also Berlin Dagors.

[Greg]

There are also Berlin Dagors.

Forgot about Berlin Dagors... In the late 1970s, on one if my trips down to Lens & Repro to purchase a LF lens I had a great conversation with Stu or Jeff Kay?. In a short period of time I was educated on Dagor lenses... did I keep notes? Of course not. Only thing I remember is him telling me to beware when buying Gold Dot Dagors. Many times he had come across Dagors in which the gold dots were not original. I bought a 240mm Berlin Dagor in a compur from him at that time. Also remember gawking over some of the optics on display under glass.

[Drew Wiley]

That must have been Geoffrey at Lens & Repro. Yes, fake gold dots were sometimes applied. I'm still astonished at some of the current asking prices.

[lucaas]

That must have been Geoffrey at Lens & Repro. Yes, fake gold dots were sometimes applied. I'm still astonished at some of the current asking prices.

Hi Drew,
Could you please advise how to distinguish real gold dot Dagor from the fake ones? Thank you.

[Greg]

That must have been Geoffrey at Lens & Repro. Yes, fake gold dots were sometimes applied. I'm still astonished at some of the current asking prices.

So it was Geoffrey. When I told him that I would be contacting my negatives, he told me that a gold dot (and maybe golden, I forget) Dagor were a waste of money for me. The Berlin Dagor would just serve me fine... He was right. Now I remember that he talked me out of buying other lenses. I lusted for one 210mm Apo-Lanthar for my 4x5 that he had under glass.... He told me that he would gladly sell it to me but I'd have been wasting my money for what I was using it for. Instead for a much lower price, sold me a 210mm Repro-Claron... He was right, that Repro-Claron produced some excellent chromes over the next few years.

[Drew Wiley]

lucaas - I'm not really an expert on older Dagors at all. I've always relied on buying from highly reputable dealers. Back when Lens & Repro was still around, they were a straight shooter. Likewise, Gasser here on the West Coast had a couple of people in the pro camera dept who were basically career types and knew their stuff. There were a number of reputable dealers across the country at one time. I've had good luck with various current Japanese dealers; but just be sure there's a return policy if something seems wrong. You do have to be careful with web purchases. Check all the photos and fine print. I've seen even ordinary general-purpose plasmats incorrectly being sold as dagors. It would probably be safer to try to buy one from a long-time member on this Forum.

[Neal Chaves]

I had a CZJ 7.5 cm f9 WA Dagor manufactured about 1935. It was in a 00 Compur. I bought it from BJ Lens Bank in about 1976 for $29, unused. I used it for a number of years on a Linhof Technika (cut the cam myself) and later found a 00Compur sync shutter for it. Finally sold it for several hundred when I got out of Linhof. It was a little soft in the corners and a bit flarey against the light, but only about the size of a Rollodex wrist watch. I had had the cult favorite 75mm 4.5 Biogon previously and I really did much better work with that little old Dagor, and it folded up in the Technika case.

[Neal Chaves]

Here's a photo I made with the 7.5 cm WA CZJ Dagor with the hand-held Technika of the tall ship Simon Bolivar on 6X9 Ektachrome 160. No filter or manipulation. High res scan by Indie Photo lab has made very nice 16X20s on Fuji Frontier at Wally World.

[Dan Fromm]

Neal, not to say anything negative about your work, but on 2x3 a 75 mm lens isn't particularly wide.

[Neal Chaves]

Neal, not to say anything negative about your work, but on 2x3 a 75 mm lens isn't particularly wide.

No, its only slightly wide. I have lots of full frame 4X5 stuff I did with it but have not scanned the prints yet. I am now printing up my life's work (so far) and will post some soon if anyone is interested. I'm now using a KEH Bgn. 75mm f4.5 SW Nikkor with a crack from the factory in one inner elements that looks as good as the Biogon and covers more. I also wanted to make a 20" wide print from a 6X9 neg on my Beseler 4X5 MCRX a while ago and found I could not do it with the 105mm El Nikkor, so I put on the 75mm SW Nikkor and made a nice print. All my small lenses are on Pacemaker boards and I milled off the back of a 4X4 to Pacemaker adapter so I can use them all on the Beseler enlargers. The alternative is what? An 80mm WA Rodagon for big bucks, and my neither my clients or I could see the difference in the prints.