It took me a while to figure this lens out. It's a bit of a mystery. It only has the Bausch & Lomb inscription on the barrel, no other hints. But I found numbers that matched what I was seeing in this 1898 B&L catalog.
If you go to the catalog link on pages 30 - 33 you can read about Zeiss Series VIIa f6.3 double anastigmats. This one is the #19 Code Word Atlas lens with 2 23 1/2" anastigmats combined to give a 13 1/4" @ f6.3 focus. You'll also see that stopped down it illuminates a 22 1/4" circle. So in theory at least, if you believe catalog pages from 1898, you should be able to use this on your 14X17, or 12X20.
The shutter works. It's usable, with this caveat; The shutters leaves also form the aperture. They are made of some kind of phenolic paper material. They don't block red light. That wasn't a problem in 1898 since they didn't have panchromatic film, but it could be now. Maybe best to use it like a barrel lens. Or go get some xray film and make period images with this.
While I was playing with this earlier I took off the front group and focused on some radio tower antennae on a hill 3 or 4 miles from here. The single group is remarkably sharp! I would say it's every bit as sharp as the combined, and perhaps a bit contrastier.
So how did guys like Darius Kinsey make those spectacular 11X14 images in 1911? He had one of these.
$425 + shipping.
If you go to the catalog link on pages 30 - 33 you can read about Zeiss Series VIIa f6.3 double anastigmats. This one is the #19 Code Word Atlas lens with 2 23 1/2" anastigmats combined to give a 13 1/4" @ f6.3 focus. You'll also see that stopped down it illuminates a 22 1/4" circle. So in theory at least, if you believe catalog pages from 1898, you should be able to use this on your 14X17, or 12X20.
The shutter works. It's usable, with this caveat; The shutters leaves also form the aperture. They are made of some kind of phenolic paper material. They don't block red light. That wasn't a problem in 1898 since they didn't have panchromatic film, but it could be now. Maybe best to use it like a barrel lens. Or go get some xray film and make period images with this.
While I was playing with this earlier I took off the front group and focused on some radio tower antennae on a hill 3 or 4 miles from here. The single group is remarkably sharp! I would say it's every bit as sharp as the combined, and perhaps a bit contrastier.
So how did guys like Darius Kinsey make those spectacular 11X14 images in 1911? He had one of these.
$425 + shipping.
