Rapid View Portrait (RVP) Pictorial lens

[goamules]

I wanted to post about a lens that is not seen very often, and is almost forgotten. The Taylor, Taylor and Hobson Rapid View Portrait (or R.V.P.) is the grandfather of a lot of soft focus meniscus lenses from the 1910s - 1920s such as the Cooke Achromatic Portrait, the Karl Struss Pictorial, the Pinkham & Smith Semi-Achromat, the Bausch & Lomb Portrait Plastigmat, and even the Kodak 305 and 405 Portrait lenses. Clarence White and Alfred Stieglitz among others used the RVP for their pictorialist works, perhaps this one:



more White

The RVP has a long barrel, with an achromatic doublet meniscus in the rear. The front holds only the iris, at F8 or sometimes mentioned at F7.5. The workmanship on all TTH lenses is of the highest quality, with deep, precise engraving, the patented "exactly three turns to remove" flange, and a glowing brass lacquer so hard their lenses usually look 50 years younger than they are. These two 130 year old TTH lenses of mine have lacquer that looks brand new. It's easy to see why they ended up making the Cooke lenses.



But the RVP was made in the 1880s, not the 1920s, much earlier than the second wave of soft focus enthusiasts. For a decade or more, this was the lens to use if you wanted soft focus. Earlier photographers experimented with opened up landscape lenses or shot "slightly out of focus" conventional lenses. Actually, in the 1800s a "view lens" meant a landscape lens, and the Rapid View (RV) was TTH's version, at F11. At some point, they realized that opening up the lens to F8 would give a softness that was conducive for portraits. Thus, the Rapid View Portrait was born. As you can see, the two lenses are quite similar, but notice the larger front iris on the RVP (on left).



The story is that in 1913 TTH/Cooke was requested to remake the RVP, because a new generation of photographers wanted a lens like the first Pictorialists used. So they brought out the Cooke Achromatic Portrait Lens f/7.5. If you compare them, they are identical to the RVP except for the engraving. A couple years later Karl Struss and Smith started making similar lenses, and the rest is history.

[goamules]

Here is a 1904 catalog, they were made for quite a while:



And here is my humble attempt to use the RVP above, on FP4 5x7:

[Steven Tribe]

Nice!

One of these never came my way! I remember seeing them a few times a year on the bay some years ago but availability seems to have gone now.

As a non-owner, I would be a little sceptical of the iris design/mechanism! I have had about 5 other T,T & H's from the pre-Cooke patent era, looking the same as this one, and all of them have had issues with the iris. Never completely busted - just stiff and with distorted (bronze) leaves and virtually unreadable stop figures. Perhaps a service would have helped, but it didn't look like a quick fix.

[CCHarrison]

Thank Garrett.

Just to refine your post a bit, the Cooke Achromatic Portrait was on the market in 1911. From my Soft Focus article: http://antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenses2.html


"While the Cooke Portrait Anastigmat line of lenses was the main soft focus product by T,T&H, in 1911, they also produced the now, rarely seen, Cooke Achromatic Portrait Lens. This lens was basically a copy of an older lens sold by T,T&H, known as the Rapid View and Portrait Lens which was a combination meniscus lens with a good amount of spherical aberration left in the design.

An 1911 issue of The Photographic Times writes, "The Taylor- Hobson Company of New York have placed on the market a single Achromatic lens known as the Cooke Achromatic Portrait lens. This is really the old Rapid View and Portrait lens made twenty years ago by Taylor & Hobson, of Leicester, England, and known then as the R. V. P. For many years the lens has been used by artists like Mrs. Kasebier, Clarence White, and Alfred Stieglitz, and has been preferred by them to the modern anastigmat. It has been marketed as the result of numerous inquiries that have been received for a lens of that type. Whoever expects sharp definition will be disappointed, but the photographer who desires softness and roundness coupled with line modeling and a true perspective, will be both astonished and delighted. Each Cooke achromatic portrait lens is furnished in an English sole-leather carrying case, and shows the same fine workmanship that characterizes Cooke anastigmats. The lenses work with a full aperture of /7.5. Full particulars will be mailed on request by the Taylor-Hobson Co., 1135 Broadway, New York."


The Photo-Miniature magazine of February 1912 remarks, "The Taylor-Hobson Co., 1135 Broadway, New York, have placed on the market a single achromatic lens known as the Cooke Achromatic Portrait lens. This is really the old Rapid View and Portrait lens made twenty years ago by Taylor & Hobson, of Leicester, England, which has been used by artists such as Gertrude Kasebier, Clarence White and Alfred Stieglitz, in preference to the modern anastigmat, for certain sorts of pictorial photography. It is noteworthy for its softness of definition, roundness and plasticity of modeling, with an accuracy of drawing which is particularly pleasing in portraiture. Those who seek these qualities in their work, and do not demand extreme speed or sharp definition, will be pleased with the performance of this lens."


Dan

Picture of a C.A.P. Lens

[jp]

This is lens porn.... and I like it.

The sailor uniform photo is Gertrude Kasabier's, not White's. I think it's taken in White's cottage/home though in Georgetown ME if I remember correctly what I've read. Still a very nice photo, and White is a good reference as to the skill of what was done; he's still teaching us today.

[Steven Tribe]

Looking at the two catalogue tables for the TT & H RV and RVP series, I notice that all data is identical - apart from the coverage given (for portrait?) and the lens hood diameter. The range of focal lengths is the same, the specific focal lengths are the same, flange dimensions and the price. So perhaps the RVP is just a a large front stop version of the RV (usually called a Rapid Landscape (f11) by other makers)?

[CCHarrison]

You got Steve - the RVP is just faster (opened up) more than the RV...otherwise same optics, same lens. Even the prices are the same.

Dan

[Steven Tribe]

Which gives me an incentive to open up my Rayment "optimus" F.11 to F7.5/F8! A good sized 12x10" 18".
This is fortunately the cheaper, earlier, version, with front insert stops making modification easy.
Well, possible, at least.

[goamules]

That's true, they are the same except for speed. What I did when I only had a RV, was unscrew the barrel, affix a black construction paper tube in it's place with no iris restriction, and voila. Here is a paper negative made with a RV opened that way. Now that I have a RVP, I'll probably stick to using it.

[Mark Sawyer]

I love this style of thread, the history of an old line of lenses with old catalog listings and current photos of the lenses, vintage work done with them by the "old masters", and modern work. It's somehow reassuring knowing the old lenses are still being used, well and often.

I think you're right that the RVP was "is the grandfather of a lot of soft focus meniscus lenses from the 1910s - 1920s such as the Cooke Achromatic Portrait, the Karl Struss Pictorial, the Pinkham & Smith Semi-Achromat, the Bausch & Lomb Portrait Plastigmat, and even the Kodak 305 and 405 Portrait lenses." I think you could add the Gundlach Meniscus, Imagon, and Plasticca to the list.

Now you need a Cooke Achromatic Portrait Lens to complete your set, Garrett!