This image was done with a lens I nearly threw away. It's a little 4+ inch projection petzval I had sold to a guy and he asked if he could send it back. It was so long and narrow that it would barely illuminate 35mm film. And the rear group had problems so I almost tossed it overboard when it came back to me. The front group is a simple doublet but it's big. About 2 1/4 inches across. I took the front group and mounted it on my Kodak 2D and this is the first image I made. Actually I was trading out another lens and had already been looking at this subject. When I looked at the ground glass this image was there. Pure magic. For once I had the sense to not adjust or tweak anything. I put a piece of 6.5 X 8.5 film in, calculated the exposure and made this image.
I made 2 other images with this lens and I'll share them when the paper is dry. It's been a printing session that has taken my breath away. Hey, that's why we keep slugging it out year after year, isn't it?
