Carl Meyer convertible lens?

I just got hold of a convertible lens made by Carl Meyer, but I can't seem to locate any information on it.

The dual aperture scales indicate its focal lengths as 21cm f/6.3 and 36cm f/12.5. The front and rear cells both say "360mm f/12.5." The front cell has intermittent threads so it attaches and detaches with just a half-turn. The rear cell has to be screwed in and out the normal way. Serial number is RE281.

It's in an old-style Compur shutter that operates at all speed settings (1 to 1/200), but the speed doesn't vary. T and B sort of work, but the shutter leaves don't always close fully on T.

Is anyone familiar with this lens? Is it any good? What size film will it cover? Do you think it's worth the expense of fixing the shutter? Does it sound like it's complete with just the two lens cells?

Any information at all will be appreciated. Thanks.

"Carl Meyer" was a house brand of Burke and James, made to sound like "CARL Zeiss" or "Hugo MEYER". I have no idea about who really made this lens, since I've heard that Burke and James often used surplus lenses from Germany and had bad quality control.

I know nothing of the lens but if you will trust me on the shutter, this is how to get it working.

Get some Acetone, not the type your wife or girlfriend uses for their fingernails, that has conditioners in it and you don't want that in your shutter.

Go to Wal-Mart or a hardware store and get a can of pure Acetone, I use it for cleaning wood after staining, paint etc. I also use it for making shutters happy.

The reason I say use acetone is it evaporates clean, and in small amounts will not mess up plastic. Unscrew the lens cells and place them on the counter.

Take a syringe used for dispensing medicine to children and suck some into it, place the shutter on it's side and drip some into the slot where the cocking arm comes out.

Cock and fire the shutter on a couple of speeds, then a few more drops of acetone, the on the next few speeds. This should un-gum the little gears that facilitate the speeds.

I have fixed numerous shutters this way, not if it is actually broken inside of course this will not help, but if it is gummed up from dried grease it will usually fix the problem and save you a CLA or replacement shutter.

If some of the acetone gets on the shutter blades don't worry it will not hurt them, it may leave a light residue that can be cleaned with a qtip and some acetone on it, wipe in a circular motion over the shutter blades, in the direction that the blades lay on top of each other so you don't get little bits of fuzz caught from going against the way the blades lay. Blow air with your mouth as you wife to dry the acetone very fast and it will not leave that residue as before.

Hope this helps you. I have fixed a fair bit of shutters this way with no adverse effects so don't be afraid to use it. It will not hurt your skin either.

I've found that Kodak film cleaner works in the same way, if you happen to have some and don't feel like taking the trip to the hardware store.

The reason I say use acetone is it evaporates clean, and in small amounts will not mess up plastic.

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Acetone is first and foremost a plastics solvent. I will destroy any styrene component and some other plastics as well. It may be true that you have not caused any damage with your cleaning, but be very careful with acetone around plastics.

Posted wirelessly..

Naphtha is a better choice.

I always used naptha.

Me too(3)
Naptha=Coleman lantern fuel

JPD said:

"Carl Meyer" was a house brand of Burke and James, made to sound like "CARL Zeiss" or "Hugo MEYER". I have no idea about who really made this lens, since I've heard that Burke and James often used surplus lenses from Germany and had bad quality control.

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That is my understanding as well. Not so much that that they had bad quality control, just that they would remount the surplus lenses to fit into shutters, and thus the cell spacing wasnt allways correct.

However sometimes i have seen some gems where the lenses were coated before resale. So as allways with Large Format folks, I'd say try it out and see if you like it first. If you dont like it, resell it and make sure to explain what you didnt like, but make it a selling point. Turn "too soft" into beautiful portrait lens, "too dim" into lightweight and great for backpacking, etc.

darinwc said:

That is my understanding as well. Not so much that that they had bad quality control, just that they would remount the surplus lenses to fit into shutters, and thus the cell spacing wasnt allways correct.

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...and that front and rear cells weren't always matched. It's what I've read about "Carl Meyer" lenses over the years. Take it as hearsay. I've never seen or used one myself.

Werent the newer "GOERZ BERLIN" lenses also B&J remounts (with similar suspect quality)?

darinwc said:

Werent the newer "GOERZ BERLIN" lenses also B&J remounts (with similar suspect quality)?

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You mean the "BERLIN DAGOR" (Not marked as "GOERZ"). Yes, they were leftovers from german Goerz. Mostly second/third selection glass of lesser quality, coated, mismatched and mounted by B&J after the war.

Not to be confused with "C.P.GOERZ BERLIN DAGOR" which is the real thing.

It sounds like they may have had a set of Protar VII cells and made a Carl Meyer out of them. 210mm is a bad number for Protar's though. You could get a 198mm f6.3 or a 240mm f6.3, but not a 210 from any of the ordinary factory cells. If you shine a lamp into the front group alone, count reflections. See if you get 2 bright and 3 dim. Burke and James did some weird stuff. There were lots of other makers of Protar type cells.

Could it be a taylor hobson?