Projection Optics

A friend of mine, who owns a small-town movie theatre, (yes, they still exist) gave me two Projection Optics Co Superlite Series III C (Petzval?) lenses, one a 4 E.F. and the other 5 3/4 E.F. In addition, there is also a Hilux 264 Anamorphic prism which fits the Superlites. Is anyone familiar with these lenses? Any chance they can be useful in some makeshift LF?

BTW, I'm torn between using the Hilux as a paperweight or a doorstop, though it occurs to me it might make a very handy anchor in a pinch.

Hey Tom,
I use projection lenses all the time for making pictures. The 4" is probably going to cover 6x6 very well, maybe 2 1/4 x 3 1/4. The ones I have vignette 4x5 rather a lot, but then, there is a beauty to that as well. The 5 1/4" should be interesting on 4x5. Some of my projection lenses are Petzvals, some are triplets with a built in "throat" in the barrel, at the middle element, acting as an aperture. I have two Leitz 2.1 cm projection lenses like that- from a combination opaque and magic lantern projector called the Epidiascope. The large (12"?) opaque projector lens on this machine is a Petzval, the magic lantern lens is a triplet! My newest favorite is a 6" SunRay, by Wollensak in black enamel and chrome. I don't know what it came from, I bought it at the Photographica show in May, but it is a sweet little Petzval - ideal for 4x5.

Have fun!

Thanks, Whitey. I'll give the 5 1/4 a shot. It looks like I should be able to strip it down sufficiently to mount it on a camera without its weight distorting local gravitational fields. I'm not the biggest fan of vignetting, even though it is a dominant feature of my 8x10 work. (I really need to find a lens that covers)

Thanks for the tips... I will let you know how things work out.

Cheers,

I don't know for sure about the optical formula of the Superlite projection lens, but "Googling" "superlite series iii c lens" shows photos of several different specimens which have the same somewhat unusual appearance as the later version of the Cinephor and Snaplite cine lenses. The latter two are modified petzval versions which have a larger front element than the classic petzval formula. As mentioned, yours is probably not going to cover 4x5, but if you can remove the front cell and mount it on a lensboard, it will probably be an interesting soft-focus lens with the typical petzval swirl in the OOF areas, with 4x5 coverage.