Melles Griot lens

[claytume]

Anyone know anything about these?

There's a 610 in #5 shutter on ebay, looks like a giant plasmat, if so would have huge cover.

I googled and turned up little apart from finding out Melles Griot are still in business.

Clayton

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think they bought out Ilex. Parts are interchangeable between Ilex and Melles Griot shutters. It seems that they make optics for printing and industry.

 

[sanking]

I think they bought out Ilex. Parts are interchangeable between Ilex and Melles Griot shutters. It seems that they make optics for printing and industry.

Apparently Melles Griot continued to provide some parts for large format shutters after Ilex went out of business, including face plates for Ilex #5 shutters.

I once owned a 610mm f/9 Apo-Nikkor lens that was custom mounted in an Ilex #5 shutter, with a Melles Griot face plate, by Mr. S. K. Grimes. It was a very good lens, of the same performance as a 24" Red Dot Artar.

Sandy King

 

[JG Motamedi]

Hi Clayton,

As I recall, these lenses were made by special order for Douglas Busch by Melles Griot. His website (http://www.superlarge.com/deGoldenBusch/) doesn't provide much information other then mentioning a seven element 19" lens. I don't know anything about Douglas Busch, but I am sure he could answer your question...

Jason

 

[claytume]

Doug Busch ULF

Hi Clayton,

As I recall, these lenses were made by special order for Douglas Busch by Melles Griot. His website (http://www.superlarge.com/deGoldenBusch/) doesn't provide much information other then mentioning a seven element 19" lens. I don't know anything about Douglas Busch, but I am sure he could answer your question...

Jason

Hi there Jason

looks like Doug Busch was once a very busy guy and had the ULF end of the market totally covered before Ron Wisner and others got in. I must admit only ever seeing pictures of his cameras and noticing some unusual design features.

Now I'm wondering, for a guy to expend so much time and effort (and hard cash) developing all this wonderful equipment, a total system no less, why we don't see and hear of more users out there. Was he ahead of his time, too expensive or the products didn't meet expectations?

Sandy and David,

the connection to Ilex is interesting and appears to only be shutters. Did Ilex produce their own glass for their shutters or was it someone elses rebranded?

If that 610 on ebay didn't have such a high starting bid (and likely to go for double that) I'd be tempted to bid on it just to try it out. Maybe Jim Galli could buy it and let us know how it performs.

Clayton

 

[sanking]

Hi there Jason


Sandy and David,

the connection to Ilex is interesting and appears to only be shutters. Did Ilex produce their own glass for their shutters or was it someone elses rebranded?


Clayton

Ilex did indeed produce lenses, and many, many of them. This includes tessar type lenses sold as Paragons as well as wide field lenses sold as Caltars, to mention only a couple of their designs. Ilex lenses were generally considered entry-level or bargain lenses here in the US where they were made, but in practice they perform quite well in comparison to German glass of the period. I have a 90mm Wide Field Caltar made by Ilex that is every bit as good as a Super Angulon of the same focal length from the same period.

Sandy

 

[Andrew Forrester]

I bought Sandy's 610mm Apo Nikkor & can vouch for it's sharpness. I use the len with a 14"x17" Rochester Empire State camera, which I bought off eBay a few years ago. The camera had once been owned & used by Doug Busch. It also came with 5 of his prototype De Golden Busch film holders.

There is one of his cameras up for auction on eBay just now
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3867370028&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

There is an article on Doug in the July / August 1990 edition of View Camera magazine, in which he says that he only ever made 24 cameras & he also had to wind up the business after a partner pulled out.

There is an interesting photo of him in the article which shows him next to his 31.5" x 51.5" camera which had a 72" Rodenstock lens. He was going to photograph Chicago with this combination. Has anyone seen any of his huge contact prints?

Andy

 

[sanking]

I bought Sandy's 610mm Apo Nikkor & can vouch for it's sharpness. I use the len with a 14"x17" Rochester Empire State camera, which I bought off eBay a few years ago. The camera had once been owned & used by Doug Busch. It also came with 5 of his prototype De Golden Busch film holders.



Andy

Hi Andy,

Good to hear from you. Just wondered if you knew that you can see your 600 mm Apo-Nikkor with the Melles Griot face plate at the S. K. Grimes web site? Go to http://www.skgrimes.com/lenspics/600nik.jpg.

Sandy

 

[smieglitz]

...

There is an article on Doug in the July / August 1990 edition of View Camera magazine, in which he says that he only ever made 24 cameras & he also had to wind up the business after a partner pulled out.

There is an interesting photo of him in the article which shows him next to his 31.5" x 51.5" camera which had a 72" Rodenstock lens. He was going to photograph Chicago with this combination. Has anyone seen any of his huge contact prints?

Andy

FYI, here's his website address:

http://www.superlarge.com/deGoldenBusch/

joe

 

[claytume]

There is an article on Doug in the July / August 1990 edition of View Camera magazine, in which he says that he only ever made 24 cameras & he also had to wind up the business after a partner pulled out.

There is an interesting photo of him in the article which shows him next to his 31.5" x 51.5" camera which had a 72" Rodenstock lens. He was going to photograph Chicago with this combination. Has anyone seen any of his huge contact prints?

Andy

Andy

thanks for the info!

Clayton

 

[Andrew Forrester]

Hi Andy,

Good to hear from you. Just wondered if you knew that you can see your 600 mm Apo-Nikkor with the Melles Griot face plate at the S. K. Grimes web site? Go to http://www.skgrimes.com/lenspics/600nik.jpg.

Sandy

Sandy,

I didn't so thanks for the link.

Andy