Lens Id help....

[wingn2a]

I went over to my girlfriends house the other day and she handed me this. It seems she used to work for a company that did year book photography and they occasionally used a LF camera with a roll-film back. I am new at LF and I’m wondering if what I have is a barrel lens and if all I need is a shutter for it? The glass is pretty much spotless, and I would like to put it to use. “7 ½” Ilex Paragon” on the front and that’s it. 2 1/16th” long and 2” dia. It looks like it has a built in flange. If this is a barrel lens, what kind of shutter might work with it? …. I am new at this and my ignorance is showing….

[Sheldon N]

It's an Ilex Paragon, which I believe is a tessar design and a copy of the popular Kodak Ektar lens. It's not the best lens out there, but many people have commented that it's quite useable, especially when stopped down. It'll probably be a little soft wide open, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Yes, you will need some sort of shutter to use it effectively. Most of the time you will see this lens mounted in an Ilex #4 shutter.

It's not a particularly valuable lens. You might get something like $25-50 for it on Ebay in barrel form, perhaps pay $100-$125 for one in a shutter. I've seen them as cheap as $50 in shutter, and I even noticed that an older 5 1/2" model in a partially working shutter sold for $7.

It's probably cheaper to buy another one with a working shutter than it is to have it retrofitted into a shutter.

[Donald Qualls]

Ilex Paragon? Totally worthless -- best send it to me so it doesn't clutter up your space; I'll have to mount it on my Speed Graphic to keep it from getting in the way.

Er...

I don't see the focal length -- longer than 135 mm, I suppose, if that was really large format -- and I don't see evidence of an aperture diaphragm. More likely, however, it was used at fixed, full aperture on a camera that took 70 mm long rolls; 135-150 mm would be a nice portrait length for the crosswise 4:3 frame (a little bigger than 6x4.5) common for those cameras, and the shallow DOF would help ensure that the painted backdrop was out of focus so as not to distract.

[Steve Hamley]

You probably can't get it custom mounted in a shutter for less than about $300-350 plus the cost of a shutter - far exceeding the value of the finished product. Sheldon's advice is good, sell it and buy something in a shutter. Or if you want to use it, the best advice would probably be to get a Speed Graphic for $200-300 and use it with the focal plane shutter the camera has.

Steve

[Sheldon N]

I don't see the focal length

In the first photo I think it shows that it's a 7 1/2 inch.

[Michael Graves]

Ilex Paragon? Totally worthless -- best send it to me so it doesn't clutter up your space; I'll have to mount it on my Speed Graphic to keep it from getting in the way.

Nice try, Donald. I've got an 8 1/4" Paragon mounted on a 5x7 Kodak 2D and a 210 Fujinon on a 5x7 Toyo. The Fujinon is sharper, but I have more "keepers" from the Paragon. I'm not sure how to describe the image quality it gives. I just like it a lot.

[wingn2a]

[QUOTE= More likely, however, it was used at fixed, full aperture on a camera that took 70 mm long rolls; 135-150 mm would be a nice portrait length for the crosswise 4:3 frame (a little bigger than 6x4.5) common for those cameras, and the shallow DOF would help ensure that the painted backdrop was out of focus so as not to distract.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I think that is it.... she mentioned that they used a roll fillm back and that it was 70mm film....

It's funny, the first lens I bought on ebay (just last week) was an Ilex Paragon Anastigmat in 7.5" / F4.5, so this was a coincidence. However, I can understand it being cost prohibitive to put it in a shutter... thanks to all for the advice....