Busch Rapid Symmetrical F:8

[Thomas Bertilsson]

What is this lens?

I haven't tried it yet. It's a nice little brass lens with two elements. I was going to try using it on my 5x7. We'll see how it goes. As the aperture is gone on it I'm going to be using it wide open. Any knowledge appreciated.

I have no idea of what the focal length is. It's pretty tiny, about 1-1/2" in diameter and has a three hole brass flange to mount on a lens board by. It came with a tiny rectangular lens board, and I have now mounted it on a larger board to fit my Century #2.

Thanks,

- Thomas

 

[Ole]

It's a "Rapid Rectilinear", AKA "Aplanat". The focal length is 8 times the diameter of the front glass, which is what makes it f:8...

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thanks, Ole! So it's a 210mm lens. I wonder what the prints will look like. Any ideas? Do you know anything about this lens and its characteristics?
- Thomas

 

[Ole]

If you look in my gallery here, the two most recent ones were shot with a wide-angle Rectilinear.

Except that your Busch won't cover that great an angle, expect something similar to that: sharp in the middle, gradually going softer towards the corners. The 210mm should cover 5x7" with visibly soft corners at f:8; stop down to f:22 and it's just like using an uncoated Protar.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Ha! Like a large format Holga, then... Unfortunately I have no way of stopping it down. Somebody performed surgery on this lens and removed the aperture. It's wide open for me, Ole! But I don't mind, I intend to use it for portraits.

- Thomas

 

[Ole]

Part of the "Holga" effect was caused by using a 3 1/4" WA Rectilinear on 4x5" film - even a very good modern 80mm lens would have had pretty much the same light falloff. But the mutedness of the colours, as well as the haze in the shadows which brings the contrast down to "just possible", and the fuzz in the corners - that's all "Rectilinear".

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thanks, Ole! I really appreciate the feedback. Just what I needed. I'm really looking forward to testing it now. See what it looks like. I'll be sure to post some results in the gallery.
Next I have to figure out what my Exelus f/6 lens is. Fortunately that's complete with a well working Betax #3 shutter... Works great on the 4x5. See how it does on the 5x7. These old lenses are a lot of fun.

- Thomas

 

[Ole]

I once tested a 300mm Meyer Aristoplan on a sheet of 18x24cm graphic film in an old plate camera. Shot at f:22, 1 second.

When the film was developed and dried I took a close look at it - a very close look. With a 15x loupe I could easily count the 16 20x20cm panes in the windows of a farm building 4km away. That's sharp!

One of my old books says about the then-new Zeiss anastigmats that "at the best, they are almost as sharp in the center as a good Aplanat".