Antique Lens research

[Mark Sawyer]

It is, but be aware that Kingslake does not seem to have had access to things like all volumes of the Photographic Journal (see my post above) so his history is sometimes not as absolute as it might be - digital archives are wonderful and searchable - he would have had to have journeyed from New York to Bath in England to have viewed this resource and then waded through it manually which it does not seem that he did (hardly surprising). Oddly enough a lens designer friend attended his 90th!

Agreed. Every source will have its own focus, so to speak. Kingslake's history in an almost Darwinian take on how lenses evolved, along with biographical information on makers and companies.

He also didn't think much of soft-focus lenses, so be aware he gives little coverage of them.

[Philippe Grunchec]

Thanks everyone. Good stuff here.



Recently got a little Darlot that takes drop-in warehouse stops, and I'd I'd like to know a bit more about it and other lenses of similar vintage.

http://www.lereve-edition.fr/fr/doss...4-jamin-darlot

[Drew Bedo]

Thanks.

I looked aty that from another link sharing . I can't find it on Amazon or e-Bay.

And its in French.

It is a recource for me to consider in the future.

[Dan Fromm]

You have to buy the book direct from the publisher. Learning French will be good for you.

About France and photography. Photography was invented in France. 19th century French photographic journals are first rate and reported on new developments on the continent and in the UK. Thinking of development, they have many articles on developers.

If you want to learn about old crocks of lenses your best bet is to get as close to the sources as possible. Secondary sources like the VM and the Kingslake books mentioned above are less comprehensive.

[pgk]

19th century French photographic journals are first rate.....

British ones tend to reflect the fact that photography was undertaken by the wealthy and photographic societies were almost thought of as 'learned bodies'. That said there is some very interesting material but it does have to be seen in its social context. There was also a lot of bickering in the early days as people vied with one another and argued about things like lens design which was still often rather empirical. Sadly, because it was not considered to be the 'done thing' there is not as much really useful detail about lenses and their attributes in the earlier volumes (1850/60s) as might be hoped and it takes perseverance to extract really useful data - but much is still there if really looked for.

[Dan Fromm]

The French Photographic Society was indeed a learned society. Its members were mostly well-to-do, well educated and very serious. Its leading members were primarily scientists. The society had a testing lab, developed test procedures, and so on. That I was able to get useful information for my Berthiot anastigmats article from its Bulletin and from Fabre's work should tell you something.

Don't dismiss the references I used until you've looked at them. They're not guaranteed to have you what you want to find but you can't be sure of that until you've looked.

Fabre's book and supplements aren't that useful for lenses invented much before 1888 but are very good on anastigmats and wide angle non-anastigmats from then (1892-on for anastigmats) through around 1910.

Those educated gents wrote beautifully and lucid classical French that made my Berthiot research quite enjoyable.

[goamules]

Wasn't all photography a wealthy pursuit until amateur cameras of the 1890s? Or a commercial endeavor. Kind of like fox hunting, or a commercial space launch company, it was done by the upper levels of society. Cameras in the 19th century were not like cell phones today.

[Dan Fromm]

Wasn't all photography a wealthy pursuit until amateur cameras of the 1890s? Or a commercial endeavor. Kind of like fox hunting, or a commercial space launch company, it was done by the upper levels of society. Cameras in the 19th century were not like cell phones today.

Not only that, photography's tentacles reached into chemistry, physics, mathematics and engineering. Chemists studied emulsions and optics, physicists and mathematicians worked on the problems of designing lenses and engineers worked on evaluation. And they all published in the SFP's bulletin.

If you haven't read my Berthiot anastigmats article -- link to it in the list -- you should at least read the biographical notes at the end. There were giants in those days.

[goamules]

Will do Dan, always appreciate your expertise.

[Mark Sawyer]

Depends on if you consider Hippolyte Bayard and Frederick Scott Archer to be wealthy men, I suppose...