My oldest is this Swift & Son #4 16" Portable View. Believe it is from around 1880 serial # 3159
Instead of hacking the original lens i made a new barel with an estimated f7 instead of the original f11.3
Have yet to use it but it looks interesting on the GG.
Re: Your Oldest Lens
Carl Zeiss West Germany Tessar 150 / 4.5 from 1958.
The year I was born.
A yellow dot Kodak Aero Ektar from 1944.
not sure what my oldest are i don't have dates ..
maybe a rectilinear with "laverne" written on it
or a dallmeyer wide angle rectilinear ..
i use them both often ...
Earlier today I was checking the image circle of a Goerz Dagor 90/6.8 Mk.111 hoping it might come close to 4x5 - no such luck, just covers 6x9, even at f64. Serial No. is 288233 which seems to date it to around 1914, it's in a shutter unknown to me.
Had it in a box for 20 years plus, came with a 1/4-plate Zeiss Ideal, 105 & 135 Tessars in Compounds & some 6x9 Rada backs.
Now it's back in the box to stay.
Maybe I'll try some oldies one day but for now I like knowing what to expect from my modern lenses.
David, look here: http://www.dioptrique.info/base/n/n_dagor.HTM Eric, who's a little demanding, thinks that Dagors cover only about 60 degrees. If so, yours should just cover -- put good image in the corners of -- nominal 6x9.
When you say cover, do you mean put good image in the corners or put light in the corner? If the latter, something's wrong with your lens.
In a discussion of what Boyer Beryls can be counted on to do, Eric pooh-poohed Boyer's claim that the lenses cover 85 degrees as exaggerated. In his opinion, Beryls are good for at most 70 degrees, 55 for really stringent requirements. This is relevant because Beryls are essentially Dagors.
Cheers,
Dan
This is my oldest. An Anthony landscape lens. Date? Somewhere between 1860 and 1900
Nothing like you, guys, but I enjoy using three old lenses, although I have never really bothered trying to find out their ages: The oldest being probably my 1a Dallmeyer (~1880?) brass lens in barrel, closely followed by a lovely, unmarked 7" Landscape lens in a Simplex shutter.
A bit more modern is my 10" Conley Series V (~1920?) which now sits in a #3 Alphax and a couple of Wollensak W.A. lenses in Betax shutters and a 15" Tele in an Alphax #4. All of these lenses get used regularly and for anything up to 5x7.
http://www.jeffbridges.com/perception.html "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right."
CC Harrison's Orthoscope Lens of 1857.
Article here: http://www.antiquecameras.net/1857ccharrisonlens.html
Dan
Antique & Classic Camera Blog
www.antiquecameras.net/blog.html
oldest: Rapid rectilinear from a kodak autographic #1 IIRC, so about 1910ish
regular use: 1930s zeiss 135 mm 4.5 tessar in patent etui as a walk around camera using 6x9 back
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