Late Wollensak Process Lenses: Designs and Specifications

[Whir-Click]

LF Forum posts and other internet references indicate that some Wollensak process lenses can be used successfully as taking lenses. Examples include the Apo Raptar f/10, the Graphic Raptar Wide Field f/6.8, and the Pro Raptar Enlarging f/5.6.

I’ll let others speak to performance of these process lenses as taking lenses if they wish. This post is intended to serve as a technical reference of Wollensak’s own specifications, and to disperse some of the fog surrounding these poorly-documented process lenses.

I’m not out to chronicle all things Wollensak - my Lens and Shutter Compendium deals only with Wollensak products designed for commercial, still cameras- but I’ll make other Wollensak references available as I find them. To that end, here is a ~1962 brochure entitled Wollensak Lenses for the Graphic Arts. Sincere thanks to the Smithsonian Library’s Trade Literature Collection for making this brochure available.

This brochure is the only authoritative reference I have seen on the design of late Wollensak process lenses and one of the few publications I have found from Wollensak's nine years as a 3M subsidiary.