Lanthar lenses

[Math]

Keep in mind that the highly regarded lens we're talking about is the Apo-Lanthar. A plain (non-APO) Lanthar is a simple triplet lens, used by voigtlander as a budget option.

[E. von Hoegh]

Keep in mind that the highly regarded lens we're talking about is the Apo-Lanthar. A plain (non-APO) Lanthar is a simple triplet lens, used by voigtlander as a budget option.

I don't think so, Math. The "Lanthar" moniker came from the lanthanum glass used.

Now, Voigtlander is selling lenses that may or may not have rare earth glass under the "Lanthar" name.

[Math]

I don't think so, Math. The "Lanthar" moniker came from the lanthanum glass used.

Now, Voigtlander is selling lenses that may or may not have rare earth glass under the "Lanthar" name.

Though that makes very good sense, sadly it's not true.



Many cheaper Voigtlander cameras had the Lanthar name on their lenses, but I can safely say that these are not well corrected Heliar formula lenses, but cheap budget lenses.

[Tony Evans]

From Antique & Classic Cameras Website.
"Rollei expert Alex Pearlman remarks that the Tessar on the Rolleiflex T utilizes Lanthanum glass for improved resolution and color correction".

[Tim Deming]

Though that makes very good sense, sadly it's not true.



Many cheaper Voigtlander cameras had the Lanthar name on their lenses, but I can safely say that these are not well corrected Heliar formula lenses, but cheap budget lenses.

you're both (?) right. The lanthars (triplets) and apo-lanthars (heliar/dynar design) were both made with lanthanum glass. AFAIK, the lanthars were only used on 35mm cameras (Voigtars and vaskars were Voigtlander's low-end triplets for medium format cameras) and the more expensive APO-lanthars were used only for medium/large format.

cheers

Tim

[Jens Langen]

I too purchased an Apo Lanthar lens from a company in NY called Camera Barn in 1972.
It's a 210mm in a Compur 3 shutter but strangely doesn't have a serial number anywhere. Does anyone know why this is? I read that only the last production runs of the 210mm had Compur 3 shutters but that's all I've heard.

[Ian Greenhalgh]

A Lanthar is a Vaskar with the middle element made from lanthanum glass. An APO-Lanthar is a Heliar with the middle element made out of lanthanum glass.

Both are excellent performers, Voigtlander were a little ahead of everyone else in the 1950-55 period because they suffered less from the war and got their new designs to the market around 1950, whereas it took Zeiss and others a few years to get new designs to market after the war.

[Tom Sobota]

Except that the later APO-Lanthars maybe ended up having no Lanthanum at all. Lanthanum is mildly radiactive and some people would see it risky to walk with one of these lenses in their pocket. I don't know what happened but the facts are these: my APO-Lanthar f4.5 210mm in Compound n.3 is an older lens and produces an easily measurable gamma emission. On the other hand a more recent 150mm in Compur simply does not emit anything measurable. Since the half-life of La 138, the radiactive isotope, is some 60000 years I don't think that it has decayed since the lens was built.

Again, separating La 138 from La 139 (the inert isotope) and using only the latter in the lenses does not look like it can be made on the cheap, so the only reasonable alternative is that Voigtländer at one moment started using some other compound.

But who am I to know...
Tom

[gliderbee]

How about this one (35mm lens) ?




Stefan.

[Tom Sobota]

I found the thread that I remembered about Apo-Lanthars, it's from 2005:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...er-Apo-Lanthar

Stefan, that is a nice lens you have there but it's not Voigtländer, but rather Cosina. And while it might be Apo, it is not a Lanthar. You know that trade names come and go nowadays, and I have read somewhere that this lens has 6 elements in 5 groups, while the Apo-Lanthar, a Heliar actually, is 5 elements in 3 groups, if I remember correctly.
Tom