Help- Info needed on P&S lens

[dlin]

Looking for any information on a P&S lens. Engraved on the barrel is:

P. & S. Doublet
Series I, No. 1 1320

The lens is mounted in an aluminum barrel with a maximum aperture of F6, minimum f32. Is this a petzval design? The front element has two strong reflections while the rear element has two strong reflections and one weak reflection.

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

[Jim Galli]

Looking for any information on a P&S lens. Engraved on the barrel is:

P. & S. Doublet
Series I, No. 1 1320

The lens is mounted in an aluminum barrel with a maximum aperture of F6, minimum f32. Is this a petzval design? The front element has two strong reflections while the rear elements has two strong reflections and one weak reflection.

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

A P & S Series I No. 1 should be a single meniscus doublet behind an aperture. #1 size was 7" focus and covered 3X4. So it should only have glass in the back. A photo of the lens might help. Or photos.

[dlin]

Thanks, Jim. I'll try to post some pics of the lens. I was also under the impression that the P & S Series 1 lenses were single meniscus lenses, but this one appears to have been designed with an additional single front element. It does not have the extreme softness of a Semi-Achromat or even that of a Visual Quality wide open, but it does have a nice glow.

All the best,
Daniel

[dlin]

Some pics of the lens.

[Jim Galli]

Interesting. I have 2 Series I lenses with some similarities but they aren't quite alike. This one is very different from both my 12" and my 15". The one thing that is recognizable is the script looks very similar to mine. I sure wish we had a little more in the way of company records and notes.

Both of my Series I's have a family resemblance to the one on Ebay just now. The 15" looks just like this but is painted black, and the 12" would look like that one except in 1928 it was returned to the factory to be mounted in an Ilex 5 shutter which replaces the funky P&S early aperture.

I'd be interested to know what you would see on the ground glass if you removed the "front" lens and tried it with just the rear group. Who knows, maybe the original purchaser sent it back to P&S and had a modifier installed to "tame" it a bit.

Here's a portrait of my eldest daughter done with the 15" lens on Labor Day weekend.

heather

[dlin]

I have tried the lens without the front element, as you've suggested, and the image is quite a bit softer. The interesting thing is that the focal length with both elements is approximately 7 inches, matching the P&S catalog designation, whereas with the rear element alone is around 15 inches, as you would expect. Perhaps this is a one-off lens from the company- it seems like P&S did quite a bit of custom work.

Fun trivia. Time to try it out on some film!

All the best,
Daniel

[seven]

interesting lens, please post some pictures with it.