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Spencer Port-Land Soft Focus Lens. 9" F/4.5, all black version, circa 1920. Serial # 2013
Lens condition is very good overall, but used. The barrel is in good condition for the most part with nice black paint. There are some areas of paint rubs and minor losses, but overall appearance is very good but used. The glass is clean and clear. The aperture opens and closes normally and works fine, however, please note that the aperture scale is off a bit to the mark on the barrel.. Please see photo with yellow marks. When the lens is wide open, the scale should read 4.5, but it reads closer to 5.6 on the scale... This is not a big deal, just cosmetic. I opened the lens to look at the blades and the ring that turns the blades needs to be moved a notch over and easily repaired but I did not want to risk damaging the blades. The aperture works perfectly. It is merely the scale reads off by 1/2 stop. Any decent repairman should be able to easily fix this - but without fixing it, it is merely a cosmetic issue.
The lens includes a nice leather front cap. There is no flange, however this lens could easily be held by a steel bladed iris or other home-made methods. Unlike most antique soft focus lenses, this is not a large lens, nor is it heavy. The quarter in the photos is for scale. The lens is about the size of a 50/1.4 DSLR lens and weighs about the same (aluminum parts). This lens, the 9" model, is made to cover 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 (whole plate) format.....which also means this is a perfect lens for 5x7 and 4x5 shooters....The lens will easily mount to almost any 4x5 or 5x7 camera/lensboard given its relatively compact size..
Price is $ 1,499 plus shipping. Port-land's surface only a few times per year on ebay.....grab this one now before I roll the dice on ebay !!
* PLEASE NOTE: The first person that actually pays for the lens via paypal will be the buyer. I cannot hold the lens or wait for buyers to confirm purchase or answer 50 questions - I hope you understand.
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BACKGROUND ON THIS FAMOUS SOFT FOCUS LENS FROM MY WEBSITE
In 1911, the Spencer Lens Company produced the "Port-land" lens. The name was to denote this lens was useful for both portrait and landscape work. The shorter focal length models are f/4.5 in speed, while longer focal lengths are f/5.6.
The 1915 book, How To Choose and Use a Lens remarks, "The Spencer Port-Land is a single meniscus lens possessing a distinctive character of its own. It gives great softness without losing the drawing, and works nominally at about f/4.5, though few workers can utilize its image at any stop larger than about f/5.6, on account of its giving a number of overlapping images. Its softness is different from that of any other lens."
The March 1921, New Photo-Miniature Magazine writes, "The Port-land Lens, F/4.5 (Spencer Lens Co.), is not offered as a general utility lens, being designed for portraiture and landscape work. It is a single achromatic combination of unusual rapidity, with a flat field, corrected for rectilinearity, and gives a diffused or well-defined image at will. This diffusion being most largely the result of spherical aberration, it is controlled by the use of the diaphragm, so that by stopping down the lens a sharp image is obtained. The degree or quality of the diffusion given at the largest aperture, however, is not excessive, giving soft lines and masses, luminous shadows and roundness of delineation without loss of form."
There appears to be at least three manufacturing variations:
1. Early all black and marked "Port-land."
2. Black barrels with aluminum parts and marked "Portland."
3. All black lens and marked "Portland."
According to Mr. Russ Young, Port-land lenses up to 1920 were marked "Port-land" after which the hypen was dropped.
See here for a booklet on the Port-land Lens
http://www.macrolenses.de/bilder/Spencer Port-Land Lens Brochure.pdf
Attached are some ads for the Port-land Lens.
questions and paypal dcolucci AT aol.com
See here for my perfect 15 year ebay reputation
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=antiquecamerasnet&ftab=AllFeedback
Thanks
Dan
Spencer Port-Land Soft Focus Lens. 9" F/4.5, all black version, circa 1920. Serial # 2013
Lens condition is very good overall, but used. The barrel is in good condition for the most part with nice black paint. There are some areas of paint rubs and minor losses, but overall appearance is very good but used. The glass is clean and clear. The aperture opens and closes normally and works fine, however, please note that the aperture scale is off a bit to the mark on the barrel.. Please see photo with yellow marks. When the lens is wide open, the scale should read 4.5, but it reads closer to 5.6 on the scale... This is not a big deal, just cosmetic. I opened the lens to look at the blades and the ring that turns the blades needs to be moved a notch over and easily repaired but I did not want to risk damaging the blades. The aperture works perfectly. It is merely the scale reads off by 1/2 stop. Any decent repairman should be able to easily fix this - but without fixing it, it is merely a cosmetic issue.
The lens includes a nice leather front cap. There is no flange, however this lens could easily be held by a steel bladed iris or other home-made methods. Unlike most antique soft focus lenses, this is not a large lens, nor is it heavy. The quarter in the photos is for scale. The lens is about the size of a 50/1.4 DSLR lens and weighs about the same (aluminum parts). This lens, the 9" model, is made to cover 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 (whole plate) format.....which also means this is a perfect lens for 5x7 and 4x5 shooters....The lens will easily mount to almost any 4x5 or 5x7 camera/lensboard given its relatively compact size..
Price is $ 1,499 plus shipping. Port-land's surface only a few times per year on ebay.....grab this one now before I roll the dice on ebay !!
* PLEASE NOTE: The first person that actually pays for the lens via paypal will be the buyer. I cannot hold the lens or wait for buyers to confirm purchase or answer 50 questions - I hope you understand.
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
BACKGROUND ON THIS FAMOUS SOFT FOCUS LENS FROM MY WEBSITE
In 1911, the Spencer Lens Company produced the "Port-land" lens. The name was to denote this lens was useful for both portrait and landscape work. The shorter focal length models are f/4.5 in speed, while longer focal lengths are f/5.6.
The 1915 book, How To Choose and Use a Lens remarks, "The Spencer Port-Land is a single meniscus lens possessing a distinctive character of its own. It gives great softness without losing the drawing, and works nominally at about f/4.5, though few workers can utilize its image at any stop larger than about f/5.6, on account of its giving a number of overlapping images. Its softness is different from that of any other lens."
The March 1921, New Photo-Miniature Magazine writes, "The Port-land Lens, F/4.5 (Spencer Lens Co.), is not offered as a general utility lens, being designed for portraiture and landscape work. It is a single achromatic combination of unusual rapidity, with a flat field, corrected for rectilinearity, and gives a diffused or well-defined image at will. This diffusion being most largely the result of spherical aberration, it is controlled by the use of the diaphragm, so that by stopping down the lens a sharp image is obtained. The degree or quality of the diffusion given at the largest aperture, however, is not excessive, giving soft lines and masses, luminous shadows and roundness of delineation without loss of form."
There appears to be at least three manufacturing variations:
1. Early all black and marked "Port-land."
2. Black barrels with aluminum parts and marked "Portland."
3. All black lens and marked "Portland."
According to Mr. Russ Young, Port-land lenses up to 1920 were marked "Port-land" after which the hypen was dropped.
See here for a booklet on the Port-land Lens
http://www.macrolenses.de/bilder/Spencer Port-Land Lens Brochure.pdf
Attached are some ads for the Port-land Lens.
questions and paypal dcolucci AT aol.com
See here for my perfect 15 year ebay reputation
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=antiquecamerasnet&ftab=AllFeedback
Thanks
Dan
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