Help Wanted: Camera with wide-angle lens to re-photograph 1920s Postcards

[Tin Can]

My Hat

Strobes in studio many POPS

Avatar HAT 1890 Glass NEg by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[jnantz]

Hi OP,

you might look for a Kodak 3A folder and put paper negatives in it, I have a graflex 3A and my grandparent's kodak. 122 film used to be post card format. a 5x7 sheet of paper barely trimmed and the back closed makes an ideal negative, the same exact size as a post card, vintage lens and paper is non-panchromatic so you'll get the look from top to bottom ).
good luck !
John

[Daniel Unkefer]

I have a Plaubel 73mm Orthar WA that fits on my Makina IIIR. I shoot planfilm in 120 all kinds, and J. Lane glass plates. I like Ilford Ortho I cut it down from 5x7 and 4x5 for reloading under red safelight. All of this is 6.5x9cm.

[Dan Fromm]

unfortunately, in practice, the 105mm lens of my Voigtländer is still too long to rephotograph many old photo's from the same spot.

I take it that standing farther back isn't possible or won't give the desired effect. If either is the case, you may be stuck with using relatively modern lenses. The ideal would be a zoom lens but I don't think one that does what you want exists.

A question about the picture postcards that give you your subjects. How were they manufactured? Are they photographic prints or did they come off a printing press? If the latter, they're inherently low resolution and there's no need for high resolution lenses.

Henri Gaud, who is one of the gurus on http://www.galerie-photo.info/forumgp/ (forum) and https://www.galerie-photo.com/ (parent site) converted his family's business, a publisher of picture postcards, into a publisher of high-quality picture books. He's an accomplished LF photographer and has an encyclopedic knowledge of LF lenses. I don't know how good his English is, but I think you should approach him for advice. I think his e-mail address is henrigaud55@gmail.com

[xkaes]

Yes, it sounds terribly puritan and unpractical, but the challenge is to keep all variables constant to visually isolate the effect time had on the specific location.

Since you are opposed to using CU lenses, there is another solution with OLD gear.

You'll never know what lens was used to make the post card, and to create the post card -- as perfectly as possible -- you much create the exact same perspective -- and that's easy. You do it without using a lens. Find the exact spot where the picture was taken. What you need to do is find the ONE SPOT where the perspective of all the items in the post card are the same. I'm not talking about the angle-of-view of the lens. I'm talking about distance from the camera to the subject / scene. Find that one spot and take the picture at that spot.

Then all you need to do is use a lens that has an angle of view that captures what's in the post card -- OR MORE. Chances are, since you won't have the exact same lens, the lens you have will capture more than what is in the post card. That's OK. Then crop it in the darkroom -- you'll have the same perspective as the post card, & with an old lens.

[rfesk]

You are using a RADA back on your camera which is 6x9 back for 120 film I presume. If you want a wide angle lens for that back I would research 65 to 80 mm lenses from that period.
Mentioned above is Plaubel 73mm Orthar WA. Their may be some Dagor or equivalent lenses that can be found that will cover 6X9. If they aren't with shutter that presents another problem - use a camera with a focal plane shutter such as a miniature (2/1/4 x 3 1/4) Graflex Speed Graphic or just us the hat trick.

Another alternative would be a 35mm slr with a 35mm perspective control lens. If you are trying to recreate post cards no one would be able to tell what format film was used- be it 120 film, 35mm or 4x5 film. It is all going to be in the film, processing and maybe post processing toning that would make the postcards look look old - if that is what you want..

[rfesk]

KEH has a 90mm Dagor lens in shutter for sale on their website. This is slightly wider than your 105mm lens.

[Tin Can]

You late late to the game

I have NOS unused postcards

Small NOS AZO

None for sale


Please provide image of what you are actually emulating

will you 'age' the cards...

[Daniel Unkefer]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

65mm F6.8 Schneider Angulon Compur on Peco Junior by Nokton48, on Flickr

If I was going to do this project, I would use either of these two lenses. BTW the 65mm F6.8 is a delight to look through, and SO tiny! I love it on the Peco Jr Mini-Me View Camera. The 65mm takes 30.5mm filters I have discovered, I have a medium yellow 30.5mm comin'. Since these both are F6.8 lenses, I believe these are Dagor derivatives.

[Dan Fromm]

Dan, the VM, which isn't always right, says that the w/a Orthar is a 4/4 double Gauss type.

Since you have one, please count reflections from either cell and tell us what you saw. 4 strong, no weak = double Gauss. 2 strong, 2 weak = dagor type. Weak reflections can be very hard to see.