Pathe Freres Paris Petzval Len

[parleton]

Hi all:

I am just wondering if anyone has or use Pathe Freres Paris Len on Large Format, information, or having pictures taking with this len, since the information I found on the net is limited. From what I gathered, it is made by a French company in early 1900s. I have a Pathe Freres 125mm at about f/5 that I put on Speed Graphic and 200mm at about f/4. The 125mm is a Cinema len (with Cinema line being scripted on the len) and the 200mm seemed to be a projector len, although I can be wrong. Both do not have Waterhouse stop although the 125mm has a built-in stop inside the len's barrel which can be modify to further stop down. Correct me if I am wrong but both len are Petzval-type construct after I disassembled the len elements. The 125mm seemed to cover fine by 4x5 and the 200mm's image circle is bigger than 240mm Schneider which seemed to cover 8x10 although I did not try it on 8x10 camera yet.

I attached a pic of the 125mm being adapted on my speed graphic taken with EPL-1 using 25mm Wollensak len

There are pic samples taken by a guy at the chinese forum here with the 200mm which can be viewed at bit.ly/z4bkvj

 

[athanasius80]

Pathe Freres was the biggest movie studio in Europe before World War I. They also were a major French phonograph company and record label for years. I wish I could tell you more, but I think its awesome you found a Pathe lens!

 

[parleton]

I bought these 2 on fleebay actually. Seemed like the information of this len is scarce and there is no listing on fleebay anymore. I'll post some pictures of the lens tonight