Where to buy Petzval?

[matthew001]

I'm recently getting into wet plate collodion -- I'm looking for a nice Petzval lens or similar and I have no idea where people purchase them from. I am on other forums that have limited selections in the classifieds and no Petzvals or similar. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[eddie]

On june 18. After one month being a member here u can c the classifieds. This is the place to buy u r petzval.

[Alan Gales]

Eddie is a great guy and very knowledgeable about old lenses like Petzvals and such. I highly recommend following his advice.

[vitality]

If you can afford to risk, you could try to buy one from ebay. Problem is, if sellers knows what he is selling and describes lens properly (+ good photos, + possibility to return), then price, most likely, will be high. If seller don't describe lens, and don't answer questions, then price will be low, but you never know what is there, is there all glass elements, or something is missing.
Also, check local stores (second hand photo equipment), sometimes people bring some brass lenses for sale. It's rare to find one, but if you find it, might be cheap.
You can check local flea-markets or sale boards, might get lucky.

The best would be to buy lens from person, who had used it before: 1st - it's definitely in working condition (well, if he used it and it worked), 2nd - you can see sample pictures taken with lens you buy.

[Fourtoes]

And depends what size plate you'd like to cover and subject matter.
A lot of old magic lantern lenses are petzvals but usually only cover up to 5x4 at portrait distance if your lucky.

Where are you based Matthew?

Tony

[matthew001]

New york. I'm planning to start building a 4x5 within a week or two. I have plans and everything. I'm a college student and know very little about old brass lens. I am, however, very interested in traditional processes and techniques. I believe this is where photography is taking me. I currently shoot medium format - RB67 Pro-S and a nice little rolleicord. I have a 135mm fujinon-w that im just not as excited about using as i am about an old lens. Thanks for your advice. I feel very welcome to this forum already.

And depends what size plate you'd like to cover and subject matter.
A lot of old magic lantern lenses are petzvals but usually only cover up to 5x4 at portrait distance if your lucky.

Where are you based Matthew?

Tony

[Geoffrey_5995]

Hi Matthew,

You should check out the Center for Alternative Photography in NYC on east 30th Street.
The website address is www.capworkshops.org. We affectionately call it CAP. CAP is an workshop based photographic education organization devoted to emulsion based photography. We teach many workshops in wet plate collodion and we have a great lens seminar that will help you understand all about the lenses used for these processes and large format photography. It's best to know as much as you can before purchasing these old lenses or any lenses for large format photography for that matter. We are community based and have wonderful lecture series and other community based initiatives. We also are always looking for interns and volunteers. We are also a non-profit that is building special outreach programs and partnering with other like minded organizations. We are currently partnered with the ICP (International Center for Photography), YPA (Young Photographers Alliance), cdags.org (Contemporary Daguerreotypes) and PhotovilleNYC.org.

Our facilities include alternative photography and traditional photography darkrooms, a beautiful north light Daguerreotype studio on the top floor of our building that we built by removing part of our roof, classrooms, gallery spaces, event spaces that includes a rooftop deck, a library with early and rare early photographic processes manuals, etc. We also have a very close working relationship with the photo lab LTI which is right next door. This is one of the last and best photo labs in NYC that still does complete film processing including optical printing from negs up to 8x10 and also has a digital c print light jet printer. Many notable artists use their services.

We hope you check us out and welcome you and any large format photography members to our community. Shortly we we will be launching a membership program that will offer great benefits from our organization. We will also be participating in PhotovilleNYC in late June and will be offering a wet plate collodion workshop there as well as a tintype booth where anyone can have a tintype portrait made of themselves.

Best, Geoff

[matthew001]

Thank you Geoffrey. I did not know about CAP or PhotovilleNYC. I'm from long island so i will probably attend that festival in june and stop by the tintype booth. Thank you.

Hi Matthew,

You should check out the Center for Alternative Photography in NYC on east 30th Street.
The website address is www.capworkshops.org. We affectionately call it CAP. CAP is an workshop based photographic education organization devoted to emulsion based photography. We teach many workshops in wet plate collodion and we have a great lens seminar that will help you understand all about the lenses used for these processes and large format photography. It's best to know as much as you can before purchasing these old lenses or any lenses for large format photography for that matter. We are community based and have wonderful lecture series and other community based initiatives. We also are always looking for interns and volunteers. We are also a non-profit that is building special outreach programs and partnering with other like minded organizations. We are currently partnered with the ICP (International Center for Photography), YPA (Young Photographers Alliance), cdags.org (Contemporary Daguerreotypes) and PhotovilleNYC.org.

Our facilities include alternative photography and traditional photography darkrooms, a beautiful north light Daguerreotype studio on the top floor of our building that we built by removing part of our roof, classrooms, gallery spaces, event spaces that includes a rooftop deck, a library with early and rare early photographic processes manuals, etc. We also have a very close working relationship with the photo lab LTI which is right next door. This is one of the last and best photo labs in NYC that still does complete film processing including optical printing from negs up to 8x10 and also has a digital c print light jet printer. Many notable artists use their services.

We hope you check us out and welcome you and any large format photography members to our community. Shortly we we will be launching a membership program that will offer great benefits from our organization. We will also be participating in PhotovilleNYC in late June and will be offering a wet plate collodion workshop there as well as a tintype booth where anyone can have a tintype portrait made of themselves.

Best, Geoff

[eddie]

New york.

Me too. I am in kingston ny. I will return on june 10. Come on up and i will show u lots of toys.

E

[ghostcount]

Me too. I am in kingston ny. I will return on june 10. Come on up and i will show u lots of toys.

E

Eddie starts them young and keeps them on the hook - he's got the goods for sure.