Offered here, is a barrel-mounted Marion & Co (London) Rectilinear No 3, S/N 12,347, cut for Waterhouse Stops. The VM indicates this lens would have been made in the 1878-1888 period (think Wyatt Earp & the OK Corral). It's old enough that Rectilinears hadn't gotten to be Rapid Rectilinears, yet. What makes this lens special is the fact that it's chrome-plated brass, and has aged beautifully. The chrome has flaked away, not in large areas, but rather in discrete spots, giving it a freckled look. This lens looks great on an old camera, and looks are the most important thing, right? OK, OK, it takes nice pictures, too. See below.
The lens is in nice shape - doesn't seem to have been dropped, as the lenshade is still perfectly round. There are no real scratches, separation, etc. It is ancient, however, so there are lots and lots of miniscule cleaning marks, enough to rob you of a bit of contrast, but then again, you don't want mint multicoated performance out of this anyway.
The lens comes with a mounting flange, and that is mounted on 4x4 lensboard. I put some standoffs between the flange and the lensboard, as the lens protrudes backwards through the flange. The standoffs allowed the lens to be mounted in front of a Packard shutter. Sorry, no shutter is included in this offering.
The focal length is 290mm, or about 11 1/2 inches. Wide open, i.e., f/8, the lens just covers 5x7 at infinity. Stopped down, it'll cover Whole Plate. Stopped down??? Cue the announcer!
But wait! There's more!
I made some waterhouse stops for this lens (making it even more special). They're chemically-blackened brass, with beveled apertures. There are six of them, f/11, 16, 22, 32, 45 and f/64. I beleive them to be fairly accurate. I used a pinpoint light source at 1 FL behind the lens to produce an image of the entrance pupil on a piece of photo paper held in front of the lens. The image was scanned and measured in PS. See the scan below.
I never made an f/8 stop. I always assumed that a lens was made to have its' wide open aperture equal to its' assigned f/stop. Ain't necessarily so. Some are closer than others, so the buyer of this lens will have to adjust when shooting wide open. For some reason that escapes my understanding, the photos I took wide open, i.e., with out WH stop, are underexposed. I would have thought they would be overexposed. All the photos I've taken using the WH stops have met my metered expectations.
The three sample photos (with blow-ups) below were shot at 1/125s wide open, 1/15s @ f/22 and 1/2s @ f/64, i.e., the same exposure. They are scanned 8x10 negatives, so you can see how the coverage expands as the f/stops get smaller. The film was old (frozen) J&C Pro 100 developed 12 min in HC-110, dilution H. The wide open shot (leaky holder and victim of tray development violence) seems to be underexposed, while the other two look very close. The f/22 shot is a bit out of focus - I had a fight with a darkslide, and I think the back slipped a bit. I did not refocus between shots (sorry - cold). I was quite pleased at how sharp the f/64 turned out.
Wait a minute....did you just read 1/125 sec.? That's right, gentle reader; read on:
Front mounts to a Copal 3!
Would I force you to take pictures in the shade, because you couldn't pump your Packard fast enough? No way! Use a modern shutter.
OK, so what's included in this package? We've got a barrel mounted Rectilinear, with flange, 4x4 lensboard, six waterhouse stops and a Copal 3 adapter. What are you willing to pay for this bonanza? For you, my friend, a special price:
$275 + shipping & insurance. Satisfaction guaranteed - return it as you got it (and pay the shipping) and you'll get a full refund, no questions asked.
Howz about that? Stand back - the PM's are pouring in.
Charley
The lens is in nice shape - doesn't seem to have been dropped, as the lenshade is still perfectly round. There are no real scratches, separation, etc. It is ancient, however, so there are lots and lots of miniscule cleaning marks, enough to rob you of a bit of contrast, but then again, you don't want mint multicoated performance out of this anyway.
The lens comes with a mounting flange, and that is mounted on 4x4 lensboard. I put some standoffs between the flange and the lensboard, as the lens protrudes backwards through the flange. The standoffs allowed the lens to be mounted in front of a Packard shutter. Sorry, no shutter is included in this offering.
The focal length is 290mm, or about 11 1/2 inches. Wide open, i.e., f/8, the lens just covers 5x7 at infinity. Stopped down, it'll cover Whole Plate. Stopped down??? Cue the announcer!
But wait! There's more!
I made some waterhouse stops for this lens (making it even more special). They're chemically-blackened brass, with beveled apertures. There are six of them, f/11, 16, 22, 32, 45 and f/64. I beleive them to be fairly accurate. I used a pinpoint light source at 1 FL behind the lens to produce an image of the entrance pupil on a piece of photo paper held in front of the lens. The image was scanned and measured in PS. See the scan below.
I never made an f/8 stop. I always assumed that a lens was made to have its' wide open aperture equal to its' assigned f/stop. Ain't necessarily so. Some are closer than others, so the buyer of this lens will have to adjust when shooting wide open. For some reason that escapes my understanding, the photos I took wide open, i.e., with out WH stop, are underexposed. I would have thought they would be overexposed. All the photos I've taken using the WH stops have met my metered expectations.
The three sample photos (with blow-ups) below were shot at 1/125s wide open, 1/15s @ f/22 and 1/2s @ f/64, i.e., the same exposure. They are scanned 8x10 negatives, so you can see how the coverage expands as the f/stops get smaller. The film was old (frozen) J&C Pro 100 developed 12 min in HC-110, dilution H. The wide open shot (leaky holder and victim of tray development violence) seems to be underexposed, while the other two look very close. The f/22 shot is a bit out of focus - I had a fight with a darkslide, and I think the back slipped a bit. I did not refocus between shots (sorry - cold). I was quite pleased at how sharp the f/64 turned out.
Wait a minute....did you just read 1/125 sec.? That's right, gentle reader; read on:
Front mounts to a Copal 3!
Would I force you to take pictures in the shade, because you couldn't pump your Packard fast enough? No way! Use a modern shutter.
OK, so what's included in this package? We've got a barrel mounted Rectilinear, with flange, 4x4 lensboard, six waterhouse stops and a Copal 3 adapter. What are you willing to pay for this bonanza? For you, my friend, a special price:
$275 + shipping & insurance. Satisfaction guaranteed - return it as you got it (and pay the shipping) and you'll get a full refund, no questions asked.
Howz about that? Stand back - the PM's are pouring in.
Charley
) I'll pop it on the 'dorff and get a look-see this weekend.
