Petzval Lens Enthusiasts

[Colin Corneau]

Just picked up a half-plate collodion camera and accessories...pretty steep learning curve ahead, I predict but did manage to get an extra lens board too. What size petzval should I be on the lookout for? (did I mention there was a steep learning curve ahead..?)

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Was that the one you posted the link to for the 1/2 plate mahogany wet plate collodion camera and lens? If so... nice camera! Other than that, I would think a 7 or 8 " Darlot would be nice and give you the coverage you need.

 

[Colin Corneau]

That's the one, Andrew. I even had Ty make me an extra lens board that can get shipped out with it, also.

Now...to just learn how it all WORKS.

 

[Barry S]

Wow-it looks like you got a beautiful camera, Colin. Talk about starting wet plate in style! I'm still assembling my supplies and of course it's more expensive and complicated than I thought. It seems like there's always "one more thing" you need. The diagonal of half-plate is 7 3/4", so a 7-9"" Petzval would be good, depending on if you want any vignetting.

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Well Colin, you patience has paid off! Hat off to you in getting that camera. Question, does this guy make them himself?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I just got a nice little lens, I THOUGHT it was a Petzval, but maybe it's a Rapid Rectilinear. Brass barrel, no waterhouse slot, slide focus with a tension screw (not radial drive or rack-and-pinion). Construction-wise, it seems to be a Petz - two sets of lens elements, one front, one rear. I haven't tried total disassembly to see what's up with the rear elements yet. The reason I suspect it's not is that I put it on my whole plate camera - it covers pretty evenly, and I get no swirlies from it. The glass is 1 1/2" in diameter, focal length appears to be about 9". Any thoughts on what I got?

 

[Colin Corneau]

Andrew, yes - Ty does make these himself. I can also say he's been really patient with this bumbling beginner, and is just terrific all-around to deal with.

This is his site, for information's sake:
Dead Link Removed

Thanks for the advice on lenses, also, folks - he is good enough to send me a few lensboards, actually, as well as a bit of trophy aluminum to get started on. What a guy!

 

[Colin Corneau]

Sooooo...ahh, if there's any 7"-9" petzvals about, yanno....I'm around. 8^)

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Flying Camera, you might want to check those rear elements. They should be seperated by a spacer to give them an air space. The front elements should be cemented together. It could be that the rear pair got swapped around orientation wise. Check the link out here to see if your elements are installed correctly... Dead Link Removed

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Looks like this could be a Gundlach equivalent to the B&L Cinephor lenses...
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Old-GUNDLA...temQQptZCamera_Lenses?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 A 5" Modified Petzval. It would need some questions asked of the owner though.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Hey folks
Just picked up a nice Korona View 8x10 camera...with a 12 in. brass lens!
By chance, I also got a packard shutter with it, as well. I've read that a regular air-triggered cable release is not the way to go with this contraption -- where does one get something to actually trip the shutter with?
I've contacted the Packard company with this question, BTW.

 

[ishutteratthethought]

Hey Colin, I have not done this yet but as I understand it you can put a pin in the back of packard where there is a tiny hole. This will close the shutter again after you squeeze giving you a shutter speed of approximatly 1/25 sec. I think that this would pertain to the #6 packard shutter. Maybe someone else can chime in and get more detailed.
Steve

 

[Colin Corneau]

I was amazed and happy with the quick response by Reno at Packard Shutter. Sent him a few pictures of what I have and it seems I have a #8 shutter. Think I'll just order one straight from the source -- the price is fine and I'd rather reward that kind of excellent service!

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Colin, just get cheap tubing from home depot and a rubber air bulb from Harbor Freight http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=rubber+blower That's what I did.

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Any new developments in Petzval land?? Not heard much from the group lately..... I am working on making a mount by modifying a body cap for my Hasselblad that will allow me to use my B&L modified petzval on it. That particular lens has insane swirl and fall off on 4x5 but more manageable on roll film format. Will post pictures of it once it's done.

 

[Marek Warunkiewicz]

Hi all! Just got a bunch of lenses delivered to me and I will be mounting them onto a couple of cameras in August and September. Will post stuff as I shoot them. Will probably have a bunch of questions.... Getting all my collodion supplies in order after an amazingly wonderful intro to it at Bill Schwab's Photostock 2009 by Bill and Joe Smigiel.

 

[Bosaiya]

I don't suppose you folks would suffer a Pentac (Heliar) user in your midst? I wouldn't even think to brooch the subject were it not for the languid pace here and my inabilty to find someplace more suitable. If it's not completely verboten I might be able to help pump in a little new blood.

 

[Fotoguy20d]

I've had a no-name petzval for a while now. It was a CdV lens that someone modified to add an f6.3 aperture so it didn't swirl much. For fun the other day, I cut a toilet paper tube down to length and taped the lenses into place. I just tried it out on my Speed - it's now aorund f3 something - and it swirls like crazy and nicely covers 4x5.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'd have no problem welcoming a Heliar user - I've got one as well. Might put it on my upcoming homebrew wet plate camera for giggles.

 

[smieglitz]

If anyone is looking for a Wollensak Vitax lens or is unfamiliar with them, (there was a url link here which no longer exists). These are monster lenses and I've illustrated the ad with a pic showing just how big they are. There's also a few links to information on the lenses from www.cameraeccentric.com in case you'd like to know more about them from early Wollensak catalogs. These would be ca. 1920 lenses with black enameled barrels and an exterior diffusion knob to move the rear element group without removing the lens from the camera or reaching inside the camera back to get at the adjustment as found in Dallmeyer Petzvals.

Update 05/13/10: Both lenses have been sold. One is in the Netherlands & the other in New York state.

 

[nick mulder]

Just added another to my collection - which is now ahem, two

Voightlander 18" ish F4 ish - huge brass gun of a thing
Dallmeyer 4A - aluminum version with the 'soft focus' function iris

 

[CAHUBER]

I am new to petzval lenses. I have a project in mind that would benefit from the classic 'petzval effect'. For the project, I want maximum ‘swirliness’ (is that even a word?) for the out-of-focus areas. Most of my images will be made of subjects ~30 feet in front of me, outdoors. I will use a 5x7 KB Canham camera with film. Most of the images will only have little to moderate movements. I would expect that petzval lenses that cover considerably more than 5x7 will have a sharper center and not as much swirly bokeh until the image reaches the edges of the coverage, and for this reason I am thinking I want a petzval lens that just covers 5x7 with a little bit of movement allowed at subject-to-film distances of 20 to 40 feet and wide-open aperatures. In addition, I want to do long exposures, so I will need a method of adding ND filtration either at the front, back, or waterhouse stop area of the lens. How does one gauge or rate the ‘swirliness’ of a petzval lens? Thoughts on the petzval lens category or design that would best fit my particular needs?

Any advice here appreciated.