Looking for lenses

Cool, more research.

Here is a thought, what about electrophoresis and fingerprint cameras? Do they do anything magical to those shutters/lenses or are they just standard? I see them from time to time pretty cheap with polaroid copals and either 105 or 135 lenses on them. I would guess the 135 is the same as what I have now.. and the 105 is just a little wider? Seems some of the fingerprint cameras only have 2 speeds I guess b and 125 or whatever the flash synchs with?

Not that I can afford it, but this just caught my eye:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-Fotodyne-Po...ryZ26230QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Just in case anyone else needs this info, I found these 3 links to be pretty cool.

http://home.earthlink.net/~eahoo/page8/lenses.html
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses/LF4x5in.html
http://www.sizes.com/tools/shutter_photo.htm

Absinthe said:

I am guessing that since that 135 was on the MP-4 it should even be pretty good for macro work, I'll have to see what it actually does, it should be flat field at least right?

Click to expand...

According to Polaroid, it's optimised for up to 1:3. It will work at infinity and will cover 4x5, but while it's quite good as a macro lens, it's not that great (OK, but not great) for distance work. Good for the money though...


Peter

Absinthe said:

Cool, more research.

Here is a thought, what about electrophoresis and fingerprint cameras? Do they do anything magical to those shutters/lenses or are they just standard? I see them from time to time pretty cheap with polaroid copals and either 105 or 135 lenses on them. I would guess the 135 is the same as what I have now.. and the 105 is just a little wider? Seems some of the fingerprint cameras only have 2 speeds I guess b and 125 or whatever the flash synchs with?

Not that I can afford it, but this just caught my eye:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-Fotodyne-Po...ryZ26230QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Click to expand...

Well, now that you mention it the gelcam 127/4.7 Tominon in Copal #1 Press shoots well at distance but its coverage is marginal for 4x5. The other CU-5/DS-34/... Tominons are too short for use on 4x5 at distance. All but the 17/4 are tessar types, and that says all you need to know about coverage. They'll do well to cover f*1.1.

Absinthe said:

Cool, more research.

Here is a thought, what about electrophoresis and fingerprint cameras? ...and the 105 is just a little wider?

Click to expand...

I've snagged two sirchie cameras on ebay in the past few months. One had a nice 2x3 Graflok back with glass/hood, and an Agfa 75mm lens that covered around 2x2. The other, came yesterday, is really a mugshot camera, and has a 4x5 Graflok back but because of the sliding faceplate, the 105mm Xenar in Prontor Press it came with is really only covering 4 x 2 1/2 (or thereabouts) and couldn't be expected to cover more than that. There are a bunch of discussions here about using 101mm Ektars on 4x5 cameras (and I still needed to try it for myself) all of which say that they won't cover. Ditto for the Xenar 105, which is the same sort of design.

Dan

Dan, that 105 Xenar was a lucky snag indeed. It is a normal lens for 2x3 (nominal 6x9). Even though I'm a strong fan of the 101/4.5 Ektar y'r Xenar ought to be pretty good. Neither is fit for use on 4x5. There's a reason why they cost so much less than, say, 100/6.3 WF Ektars and other ~ 4" lenses that really do cover 4x5.

I've bought one Sirchie camera so far. A mugshot that looked like it was 2x3, turned out to have a 2x3 Graflok back (Sirchie made, not easily used on anything else) with a regular Graflex-made 2x3 focusing panel and a sliding back that actually takes two shots, slightly smaller than half of 6x7, on a 6x7 frame. Copal Press #0, which is why I bought it, and a 105/4.5 Comparon that turns out to be fairly good as a macro lens. Nice thing about it being in a #0 is that it can be reversed by swapping the cells front to back.

Cheers,

Dan

Absinthe, it arrived today! I think you were right about the post office being behind from tax season.

Huzzah!!! Use it in good health. BTW, does it look as rough as it did in the picture?