About the 12" f/6.3 Ilex-Caltar

[rdenney]

I seem to be attracting interesting lenses in the semi-modern category. They are not old enough to have attracted much research or to interest those who appreciate lenses for their "personality", nor are they new enough to be fully described by modern advertising literature. That's why I'm describing them--to provide some help to later searchers like me.

The first was the 240/6.8 Caltar Type Y, ca. early 70's, which I have confirmed by inspection to be a Rodenstock Ysarex, following the Tessar formula, as suggested by Kerry Thalmann. Nice lens up to modern standards at the apertures we use, and in a #1 shutter instead of the #3 shutter used by f/5.6 lenses at this focal length.

The latest is the subject of this post. I have recently bought from Jan Pederson of this forum a 12" f/6.3 Ilex-Caltar, mounted in what seems to be a very late Acme No. 4 shutter. His posting, which includes an attached picture, is here. Looking at the Camera Eccentric website, I see them described in the 1965 and 1970 Calumet catalogs. Those catalogs describe it as an updated Tessar, and they were clearly trying to provide a lower-price alternative to the Commercial Ektars and more recent plasmats that they were also selling in those catalogs.

Here's an excerpt of the Calumet description:

The Caltar Commercial lens is ground to a modified Tessar type formula for use on the Calumet View Camera. Highly corrected for color and free from curvature of field, the Caltar is ideal for illustration in color or black and white....

The purpose of the Caltar lens ground under our supervision is to provide a top grade commercial lens in a first-rate shutter at the lower Calumet direct from the factory prices.

In 1965, Calumet prices the 12" f/6.3 Caltar in a No. 4 Acme at $175.

...The Caltar lens covers an angle of 56 degrees wide open, increasing to 64 degrees as the lens is stopped down.

The formula for the Caltar lens was established to produce sharp delineation on tonal values. The higher contrast obtainable with the formulation gives the impression of greater sharpness and is excellent for color, fully suitable for photomechanical reproduction.

The circle of coverage in these four-element lenses is less than the Series-S Caltar...

(The Series-S Caltar 300mm looks like a Rodenstock f/5.6 plasmat in a Copal shutter, probably from the first period of Rodenstock involvement in Caltar-branded lenses.) The 12" f/6.3 (model L-115) Caltar was $185 in 1970, compared to $370 for the 300/5.6 Type S and $416 for the 300/5.6 Symmar in the same catalog.

In View Camera, Lynn Jones suggests that these were made by Ilex as part of a joint project with Burke and James, Calumet, and Ilex, and were sold as Paragons, Acutons, and Caltars. Dr. Jones includes it in this list:

http://www.austincc.edu/photo/pdf/usdlens.pdf

Here is the Vade Mecum description for this lens (their Q15 diagram is a classic Tessar, despite being described below as a triplet type--Kingslake insists that the Tessar did not derive from a triplet, but rather from a Zeiss Anastigmat):

Series 1 4-glass triplet type Q15 f6.3 165, 215, 254, 305, 375mm. These used new optical glasses from England, and updated designs, and were of high quality, only the 375mm being less than perfect. They were supplied from April 1965. This was essentially the Ilex Paragon reborn and some were sold direct from Ilex as Paragons. A Caltar 165mm in Seikosha was $85 in Modern Photo 11/1971, p38.

In my digging, I found a reference that I can no longer remember or find suggesting that the special glass used in this project was lanthanum or other rare-earth glass. I don't have a Geiger counter but I do detect a very slight yellowing of the lens, which does nothing to refute this speculation. Dr. Jones would know, I'm sure.

In any case, this one looks like the pinnacle of Tessar technology and likely on a par with the Commercial Ektar, and it enjoys a very good reputation.

The shutter also interests me. The Acme No. 4 has all the typical Acme controls, including the separate flash sync cocking lever and timing control (for bulbs and electronic flash), and the press-focus feature. It is not self-cocking like the Universal No. 4 in which my 8-1/2" f/4.5 Paragon is mounted, which seems to have been made in the 50's. The labeling uses block lettering of a more modern design than the older shutter, and even has a little plastic handle on the aperture control lever. I have been unable to find any dating scheme for Ilex shutters, probably because nobody really cares, but this suggests to me a later design than the more traditional Ilex look shown even in the Calumet catalogs.

I have been using a Grimes flange as a retaining ring for the 8-1/2" Paragon, but I think I'll go ahead and mount the flange properly and then just screw these lenses in and out of the same Sinar board. Who knows? I might end up with more Ilex No. 4 shuttered lenses.

Rick "gathering information for future searches" Denney

[Mark Sampson]

Somewhere Mr. Jones has written that these lenses were developed to (effectively) replace the Kodak Ektars, production of which was winding down by the early '60s.(The newest 14" Commercial Ektar I've ever seen was made in 1967.) We have a 14-3/4" (375mm) Ilex-Caltar in the lens cabinet at work, and it's a fine lens. We once made a 15x mag color print from a neg made with that lens, and it was plenty sharp.
I once had a Calumet catalog from 1975 that described their whole lens lineup, these lenses were in it, but it's long gone.

[rdenney]

Somewhere Mr. Jones has written that these lenses were developed to (effectively) replace the Kodak Ektars, production of which was winding down by the early '60s.(The newest 14" Commercial Ektar I've ever seen was made in 1967.) We have a 14-3/4" (375mm) Ilex-Caltar in the lens cabinet at work, and it's a fine lens. We once made a 15x mag color print from a neg made with that lens, and it was plenty sharp.
I once had a Calumet catalog from 1975 that described their whole lens lineup, these lenses were in it, but it's long gone.

I did see that comment by the Mr. Jones, but thought it hearsay until I later learned that he had been involved in the development of these lenses with Calumet and Ilex.

And thanks for the data point with the 1975 catalog. Maybe that one would show pictures of this Acme shutter as I see it. The Camera Eccentric site only has 1970 and 1978 Calumet catalogs from that era, and in the '78 catalog, the whole line had shifted over to German optics. Of course, by that time, Ilex and the cooperative effort with them, B&J, and Burleigh-Brooks was fading fast.

Rick "hoping Mr. Jones or Mr. Thalmann will correct my mistakes" Denney

[Jan Pedersen]

I have one of the Ilex Caltar catalogs at home and can copy and post some of the pages if interested.
I agree with Mark's comment on the 375mm 6.3, i still have that one and the 508mm f7 They both are very fine lenses.

[gth]

How do you operate an Acme 4 shutter?