My new oldest lens in collection

DraganB

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Hi Friends,

I just want to show you this lovely lens i got,

Dr.R.Krügener's Rapid Aplanat 165mm/f9.

Its super clean, working shutter, metal blades.

Unusual to mount but i will print a board.

Its from around 1905! Thats crazy, i can't wait to shoot some dryplate with this beauty.

One strange thing is, the aperture is asymetric and there are additional pinholes in aperture. See image.

What beautiful images this is going to produce

I wish you all good light, time to take pictures, inspiration, health and love.

Dragan


 

Harry Callahan

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I think you stopped down too much, that`s why there are additional holes. The aperture lever is beyond f36, this is too far.
Maybe that`s why the aperture is asymetric.
 
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DraganB

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Thank you so much for all the info, and the book which i am going to read now

I speak german so no problem.

The commercial is really funny, I wish I was alive back then.
 

awty

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Harry Callahan

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DraganB said:
True, thanks for the hint
Click to expand...

You`re welcome. If you`re using these older lenses you should be aware that sometimes the aperture blades aren`t made of metal but black paper. I only found one so far, but it`s a high quality lens (tessar) and i think they did so to reduce internal flare - as blackened metal still does reflect more light than black paper. On this shutter you really gotta be careful as the paper-blades jam if you move the aperture lever too far - or too fast. You have to move slow and move a little forth and back on your desired f-stop to get a round aperture opening.

Speaking of blades:

1957ExaktaVarexIIa said:
...
And here the manufacturer left an advert at the bottom left of page 13 in 1906.

...
Click to expand...

The Gillette commercial is hilarious: "Finally the completion!" ...in 1906.

More than hundred years later they still find the completion - about every two years.
 

JPD

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It looks very nice, and a big plus is that the lens is branded. Willy Frerk warns about the common anonymous aplanats of low quality in his 1927 book Lichtbildkunde, Band 1.
 

baachitraka

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Assembly looks nice but not sure whether it will produce any stunning image, perhaps one with a bit low in contrast and plenty of sharpness.
 
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koraks

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Harry Callahan said:
I think you stopped down too much, that`s why there are additional holes. The aperture lever is beyond f36, this is too far.
Maybe that`s why the aperture is asymetric.
Click to expand...

The holes are certainly there because of stopping down too much. If the aperture assembly is opened up, it'll become clear why: the aperture blades need to fit in the aperture torus and there needs to be space for the little pins the individual blades hinge on. As a result, the blades are limited in width at the base, and stopping down too far essentially breaks the overlap between the blades along the outer rim of the aperture.

The asymmetric aperture is pretty normal for older lenses; there are minor imperfections in tolerances/play and this compounds into a slightly irregular aperture shape. It'll be virtually impossible to spot this in an actual photo; the only way I could imagine is in a sun-star image where the angle between the stars is being measured - but who on earth would do something like this (unless working for the FBI, MI-5 or the KGB back in the 1950s), and the whole attempt would likely be thwarted anyway by the massive flare in a use case like this (uncoated lens!)

baachitraka said:
not sure whether it will produce any stunning image
Click to expand...

'Stunning' is subjective of course, but these old lenses sometimes render beautifully. It's worth a try at least. And either way, I guess it can be fun to work with old gear.
 

baachitraka

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koraks said:
'Stunning' is subjective of course, but these old lenses sometimes render beautifully. It's worth a try at least. And either way, I guess it can be fun to work with old gear.
Click to expand...

me too a big fan of old lenses esp., when I see the old photos with glowing highlights but aplanats or rapid rectilinears may not fall in that category. I prefer to collect Dagors but also there are other good lenses which are rare and expensive.

@JPD once listed the names of those lenses and I am trying to find them...
 

Ron (Netherlands)

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Your lens would typically have sported a Delta 7 camera by Krügener (the lens was advertized as coming from Jena - so most probably made by a Zeiss plant - not by Krügener himself):



The camera used Kodak 118 rollfilm, but could also use platefilm. The camera's by Krügener seem always to fetch relatively high prices.
Looking at the logo of your shutter (at least what I can make of it), it seems to be made by Friedrich Deckel....
 

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maruti660

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Hi, this is a great lens! Does it cover 4x5? I'm sure the people who made it 120 years ago are happy to see you using it with care.
 
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