There are also Berlin Dagors.
There are also Berlin Dagors.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
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.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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