Struss or Pinkham & Smith?

[jp]

If you are looking for meniscii to try, I'm digging the kodak 305 portrait. It wasn't built for 8x10, but works fine with a tiny bit of field curvature, but without vignetting. They used to be on Ebay constantly, but haven't been available for a while. A WTB on here might be successful. This lens is often in an ilex5 shutter, which is quite handy to be able to shoot at 1/50 and/or have x-sync. I've seen them sell for $400-2000.

Reinhold could probably make you an even cheaper wollaston meniscus as well for 8x10; I use it with 4x5 and it's pretty nice at f8 or so and has serious potential for wildness as you open up.

I have used a spencer port-land which might be similar to the struss; there is one on Ebay right now for more than I'm willing to pay. Ansel used one before he got all f64ish. Eddie was showing off one probably suitable for 8x10 in his videos.

You might consider the tillman crane / russ young week of soft focus craziness this year in Virginia if you want to see your lens options. I've had fun trying other lenses and seeing what others do with them in previous shorter workshops.

[CCHarrison]

Tim,

You can find some Soft Focus lens sales history on my site here: http://antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenssales.html

There have actually been a few Struss Sales the past 2 years on ebay...here are the ones I am aware of:

2nd Qtr 2011 Struss Pictorial Lens 9" $1,599 Ebay, flange but not original
4th Qtr 2010 Struss Pictorial Lens 12" $3,250 Ebay, damage to iris
4th Qtr 2010 Struss Pictorial Lens 12" $2,650 Ebay, sunken mount
4th Qtr 2010 Struss Pictorial Lens 12" $1,613 Ebay, unmarked, sunken mount
2nd Qtr 2011 Struss Pictorial Lens 18" $2,025 Ebay, blade missing/no flange

Note the frequency of condition issues with the Struss lenses...!

Good luck

Dan

PS - the Pinkham you refer to is actually a later model lens, not an original P&S.... read more here http://antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenses.html

Here is the sales history I have on the Bi-Quality Lens

1st Qtr 2010 Pinkham Bi-Quality Lens $ 4,200 Ebay
1st Qtr 2010 Pinkham Bi-Quality Lens $ 2,500 Private Sale, fair condition with cap
4th Qtr 2010 Pinkham Bi-Quality Lens $ 4,000 Ebay, fair condition with cap

[Jim Galli]

Struss is generally softer than Pinkham Series IV and Pinkham Series 1 is probably softer than both. So should I buy the Packard or the Auburn Boat tail, or maybe the Duesenberg would be nice. I've got one 1850's Achromatic Meniscus in a shabby old mount missing the entire front, no name, and it's not for sale at any price. It just gets the picture every time I put it on the camera. I think it cost me $65 bucks. I haven't seen a Struss now in quite a while.

[Mark Sawyer]

One thing to keep in mind with the P&S lenses is that many were "hand-finished", with aspherical surfaces introduced by hand, so lenses varied from one to another even with the same maodel of lens. Alvin Langdon Coburn had "about a dozen" P&S Semi Achromats because they each had their own look. So if you see an image from Jim's P&S, and buy one just like it, you may get something else. But I've never heard of any P&S turkeys.

With meniscus lenses, there is a wide variation. I think the best are the Rodenstock Imagon and the Kodak Portrait Lens. These were designed by the best engineers, and made by the best manufacturers. The sharp image that underlies the softness is sharper than with the older, more primative meniscus lenses, and that's one of the things I look for. But I'd trade mine for a P&S meniscus like the Semi Achromat, not for the monetary value, but for the history and mystique.

But the thing with the soft lenses is that even the cheapest piece of crap can give you something wonderful if you just give it a chance:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=35097
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=35482

[massimodec]

Hi,
from the forum stements it seems you are on line now.
I have almost the same question on P&S and Struss, but I know something more.
What I would like to check are the optical schemas of those lenses...
Do you have any source or knowledge?
Thank you
M

[Jim Noel]

WHy spend huge sums on a Struss when there are lenses available for less than $100 of the very same design.
Reinhold Schable makes single meniscus lenses housed in lightweight plastic barrels. After using one belonging to a friend, I just purchased a 355mm and a 500 mm for less than $100 each. His web site is
http://www.re-inventedphotoequip.com/Site/Home.html

Currently he is on an extended trip and likely will not reply for at least three weeks.

[massimodec]

WHy spend huge sums on a Struss when there are lenses available for less than $100 of the very same design.
http://www.re-inventedphotoequip.com/Site/Home.html

...

That was exactely what I was trying to figure out.
But analyzing the wonderful work by Jim Galli I saw some details that made me think that there still is a little work to be done...
This is the reason I asked Jim Galli some details, but he did not answred ...
I will let you know my finds... if any. !
Thank you for the link

[Jim Galli]

That was exactely what I was trying to figure out.
But analyzing the wonderful work by Jim Galli I saw some details that made me think that there still is a little work to be done...
This is the reason I asked Jim Galli some details, but he did not answred ...
I will let you know my finds... if any. !
Thank you for the link

I did not know a good answer for this. The Struss lens is a mystery design. I know of no engineering drawings or expanations about it. It is single element, non achromatic. A modified magnifying glass, with a rather off shape, actually.

Pinkhams came in different flavors. The Semi-Achromatics are some kind of cemented doublet, but thereagain, the design and hand work grinding or re-grinding perhaps of the old master who made them is couched in mystery. No one knows.

Achromatic Meniscii are cheap, varied, available. A grand place to begin your experimenting, affordably. The great lenses, in name, and price, do have signatures that are impossible to duplicate with an achromatic meniscus. But the differences are like discussing vinyl music played through a vacuum tube amplifier. Differences are smooth and sweet to the elect, but mostly unnoticed and ignored by the end users.