The Petzval Madness Continues...

sunnyroller · Feb 12, 2006

dmax said:
With all these APUG goings-on with brass lenses, I now have a defensible reason to give my wife. The next time she sarcastically asks why I keep accumulating brass lenses, I can tell her that its actually a disease with a well-documented name, one that I caught early on and still have not recovered from. And that given the tenacity of the syndrome and its strong associations with large cameras with bellows, folks with even the most sturdy constitutions often fall into severe periods of relapse.

The lenses are symptoms of advanced disease, the beginning is format envy. I had my MF system for about 4 months before I found APUG. I thought I was in tall cotton, then I learn more about the mysterious world of large format with its way cools lenses with exotic names. My six by six, which made huge negatives last summer are impossibly and unacceptably small now. I just ordered a tilt shift lens, but it is only a stop gap, a bandaid if you will. I can see the future and it has me living in poverty, eating ramen noodles surrounded by very large cameras eating very expensive film.

Sunny

Gordon Coale · Feb 12, 2006

sunnyroller -- Don't worry, you'll develop a taste for ramen noodles.

vet173 · Feb 13, 2006

Add some costco italian meatballs and some frozen peas for gourmet ramen. We should start a Ramen cookbook for LF photographers so we can satisfy AGS. ( Acute Galli Syndrom )

KrzysztofL · Mar 21, 2006

Hi,

I'd purchased my Steinhal brass cannon recently so I am interested in some information about it. There is no dates on the barrel beside : Steihal in Munchen No 41081 and f stops marks starting from 1/2 up to 32. F: 1/2 in old French system was equal to f: 6.8 but why Steinhal produced lenses using other then German system, it's difficult to guess. On the other hand how to check what kind of lenses is this item and did you make any researches about this German firm, and is it worthy to check in practice how does it work.

Krzysztof Labe

Ole · Mar 21, 2006

KrzysztofL said:
... Steihal in Munchen No 41081 and f stops marks starting from 1/2 up to 32. F: 1/2 in old French system was equal to f: 6.8 but why Steinhal produced lenses using other then German system, it's difficult to guess. ...

Steinheil did that before 1900. It was a mystery to the author of my reference book too - in 1910.

I've got an even older Steinheil brass cannon, marked only "Steinheil in München Patent". No aperture, but I've found a set of Waterhouse stops which fit. A far as I can find out it's a very early Aplanat, possibly from one of the first few years (1868-1870).

If yours has a proper aperture, it's newer. If both ends consist of two cemented elements, it's probably an Aplanat. If all the three surfaces of each end curve the same way (outwards), it's almost certainly an Aplanat.

Aplanats are mostly cheap and plentiful, and surprisingly good!

Charles Webb · Mar 21, 2006

Sheesh guys, I had to wade through 8 pages just to tell Bob I like his photo!
I coulda forgotten what I had to say in all that time. Any way it is a fine looking portrait!

There are several lenses I have wanted/coveted for 40 years or more and I am now giving up on them. I never dreamed that a lowly crusty old Wollensak worth 35 bucks is now pushing a grand. All I wanted was a Heliar and a Rapid Rectilinear, don't seem like to much to want, but now the whole world is looking for em so I don't stand a chance! Well now that the lens capitol of the world is located in Tonopah I guess it's time to retire! I have been considering "Re-enactment Bass Fishing. You can do it anywhere, no licenses necessary, heck you don't even need a pole........................

Charlie...........................

Ole · Mar 22, 2006

Ole said:
Aplanats are mostly cheap and plentiful, and surprisingly good!

I wrote that yesterday.

And tonight (while sleeping) I won two ebay auctions - a $69 Rapid Rectilinear and a $12 Petzval.

Is the "Petzval madness" over and "Aplanat madness" getting started, or was I the only one to notice what these lenses are??

smieglitz · Mar 22, 2006

Ole said:
...or was I the only one to notice what these lenses are??

I may have just missed sniping that $12 Petzval. I was in class and didn't arrive home until just before the auction ended, By the time I had signed on, the auction had just ended by about a minute or two.

Oh well. There is always another...

Congratulations.

Joe

Ole · Mar 22, 2006

I did notice you had bid on them, but decided that if your bid was so low that I outbid you, you wouldn't have won them anyway. Then I went to bed and slept through the last hours of the auction.

I have been "blamed" with being the main cause of the prices of Angulon lenses on German ebay having doubled over the last few years - I hope the same is not happening to Aplanats. So I won't mention what great lightweight lenses they are, or how sharp they can be when well made and well stopped down - I won't even think of mentioning the little 150mm WA Aplanat I used yesterday on my 24x30cm (9.5x12") camera or the fact that it was sharp all the way out in the corners of the negative.

Denis P. · Mar 22, 2006

smieglitz said:
I may have just missed sniping that $12 Petzval. I was in class and didn't arrive home until just before the auction ended, By the time I had signed on, the auction had just ended by about a minute or two.

Oh well. There is always another...

Congratulations.

Joe

Joe, how many of those lenses you already have???

It seems that EVERY auction that I'm interested in has you as the current highest bidder - and I check out MANY auctions for older lenses

Should I just order directly from you and avoid the hassle?

Just kidding... but it certainly looks like I'll have to wait a few years untill this petzval madness runs its course.

Denis

smieglitz · Mar 22, 2006

Denis P. said:
Joe, how many of those lenses you already have???

It seems that EVERY auction that I'm interested in has you as the current highest bidder - and I check out MANY auctions for older lenses

...

Actually, the ones I'm not high bidder on are the auctions you have to watch for me on. The ones I bid on and maintain high bid for several days are the ones that usually end up in Nevada.

I guess I have 11 Petzvals from a 3.5" tube out to 22" Vitax. They are pretty evenly spaced in terms of focal lengths. I usually use the Dallmeyer 1A or 3A though.

I actually just sold one - a duplicate 3A. Contemplated making a monster stereo camera, but...

Joe

frohm · Jan 15, 2009

Dead Link Removed
May you tell about Eidoscope No.2 1:4,5 f=375mm, Berthiot Paris? Is it the same as Hermagis?
Thank you, Michal

jimgalli · Jan 15, 2009

Yes, they are identical. Berthiot was later. There must have been a merger?

removed account4 · Jan 15, 2009

i love it when threads like this pop back up again, 3 years later
and the guy that started all this insanity is still at it!

thanks jim!

john

frohm · Jan 16, 2009

jimgalli said:
Yes, they are identical. Berthiot was later. There must have been a merger?

Thank you, jimgalli. I bought this lens yesterdy. I hope will a good wet plate lens...

jimgalli · Jan 16, 2009

jnanian said:
i love it when threads like this pop back up again, 3 years later
and the guy that started all this insanity is still at it!

thanks jim!

john

Thanks John. Frohm, I should have mentioned that the Eidoscop is not a petzval type.

frohm · Jan 18, 2009

jimgalli, is it a Rapid Rectilinear?
How much will this lens on Ebay (approximately)?
Thank you, Michal

jimgalli · Jan 18, 2009

Yes, it is sort of a Rapid Rectilinear or Aplanat but with large aperture and softness by design. I do not know the values just now. The world economy has sifted the buyers like wheat. I have gotten some bargains lately compared to 1 year ago.

frohm · Jan 19, 2009

I can understand. I think a year ago the price has not been less as USD 600... Am I right?
***
jimgalli, just now I seen your photos and a tests the soft focus lenses. Very useful! Thank you so much, you have an amazing web!

jimgalli · Jan 19, 2009

frohm said:
I can understand. I think a year ago the price has not been less as USD 600... Am I right?
***
jimgalli, just now I seen your photos and a tests the soft focus lenses. Very useful! Thank you so much, you have an amazing web!

Thank you. Yes, certainly not less than USD 600 and VERY lucky to find at that price for several years. Perhaps 2X

The Petzval Madness Continues...

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