old theater projector lens

**Wayne** · 27-Jan-2009, 19:52

Good for anything LF, or worth anything? Dont know what kind it is, probably B&L...probably from an old Simplex projector

**Mark Sawyer** · 27-Jan-2009, 20:23

"Good for anything lf?" Depends on what you do with it. Especially with lenses, we keep searching for the magic bullet. I'm of the philosophy that all bullets are magic bullets. It's amazing what wonderful images can come out of a supposedly awful lens...

hmmm... that didn't help much, did it?

**Wayne** · 27-Jan-2009, 21:38

Maybe I should rephrase it to "can it be expected to have any commonly useful qualities whatsoever for LF". I'm sure an image can be made with it, though I dont even know if it can be made to fit in my 8x10, and I dont think it has a (diaphragm not sure tho).

**Bjorn Nilsson** · 28-Jan-2009, 09:04

Check what Jim Galli does with some of these old projector lenses. Anyhow, give it a try and see what you can get.

//Björn

**Jim Galli** · 28-Jan-2009, 09:13

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/4I...al4X5Pics.html

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Se...h_Nothing.html

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Se...e_SW_Lens.html

All done with old Simplex theatre lenses or parts of lenses. Some consider worthless. Others enjoy. Only the longer focus ones will actually cover 4X5 beginning about 5.5 or 6 inch.

Someone somewhere wants it. Got a snapshot of it?

**Wayne** · 29-Jan-2009, 07:14

Originally Posted by Jim Galli

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/4I...al4X5Pics.html

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Se...h_Nothing.html

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Se...e_SW_Lens.html

All done with old Simplex theatre lenses or parts of lenses. Some consider worthless. Others enjoy. Only the longer focus ones will actually cover 4X5 beginning about 5.5 or 6 inch.

Someone somewhere wants it. Got a snapshot of it?

No, I havent even seen it yet. I saw another one the person has (which is not available AFAIK-its still mounted in the Simplex, which supposedly still works) and its a Cinemascope. I dont know what the other one is but I will try to find out. I'm not interested in paying much for it. I dont even know if he will part with it.

Those are interesting pics. Looks like it might be fun. The Cinemascope lens anyway, is much larger than that one pictured. I would place it in the "Huge" category. Its also nice and fungusy.

Whats the retail value of these? couple hundred at most?

**Jim Galli** · 29-Jan-2009, 07:38

Originally Posted by Wayne

No, I havent even seen it yet. I saw another one the person has (which is not available AFAIK-its still mounted in the Simplex, which supposedly still works) and its a Cinemascope. I dont know what the other one is but I will try to find out. I'm not interested in paying much for it. I dont even know if he will part with it.

Those are interesting pics. Looks like it might be fun. The Cinemascope lens anyway, is much larger than that one pictured. I would place it in the "Huge" category. Its also nice and fungusy.

Whats the retail value of these? couple hundred at most?

When I can find them I pass them along for $65 to $95 or so. It's only the old 1915 ish ones that are of interest. They are petzval type. later ones are triplet etc and usually don't have any chutzpa.