Vade Mecum with camera

Ole · Dec 6, 2005

My new old toy has arrived.

The camera itself is a beautiful, but fairly simple (and thus lightweight) 13x18cm "Reisekamera". But what made me buy it was the "accessory", a full set of Chr. Fr. Winter Sohn Aplanat Objektivsatz, seemingly identical to the Busch Vademecum Satz No. 2: Seven lens cells of focal length 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75cm all fitting in a common lens barrel.

I like Aplanats, I'm going to have some fun with these

ongarine · Dec 6, 2005

Ole,
enjoy your satzobjektiv, but test it to have the real value of your Aplanat.
For my experience with satzobjektiv (I'm an avid collecto) you could have surprises. Some lenses are meniscus some other periscop type and you will find some slightly differences.
I'm a lover too of pre-anastigmat lenses and I really don't understand all these premium prices for so sharp lenses

Ole · Dec 6, 2005

These are definitelt Aplanats - it's a very simple construction to identify by reflections. Inner and outer surfaces curved the same way with somewhat similar curvature (front a little stronger than rear); and then the cemented interface with very strong curvature in the same direction.

BTW - I have a Periscop lens to play with as well: A Voigtländer WZ...

Dan Fromm · Dec 6, 2005

mm or cm? If mm, they seem awfully short or I'm even worse at arithmetic than I'd like to believe.

Dave Wooten · Dec 6, 2005

Sweet!

tdeming · Dec 6, 2005

Ole said:
BTW - I have a Periscop lens to play with as well: A Voigtländer WZ...

Is this the 180mm/f9? I have one of these I need to mount on a board to try out. All the literature I can find seems to indicate it is an "enlarging lens", although most sources agree this is a strange use for this type of lens. Any ideas on how big a format this can cover?

Tim

Ole · Dec 7, 2005

Typo in the first post (now corrected), it is of course cm, not mm.

The Voigtländer WZ is the 180mm/9, it seems to be the only size made. And to confuse matters further the aperture is marked in mm opening, not f-stops... I haven't found out what it was made for either.

"Coverage" is a relative word, both with Aplanats and the WZ. The WZ should at least illuminate 8x10", but "sharp" will be much less than that.

Dan Fromm · Dec 7, 2005

Ole said:
Typo in the first post (now corrected), it is of course cm, not mm.

The Voigtländer WZ is the 180mm/9, it seems to be the only size made. And to confuse matters further the aperture is marked in mm opening, not f-stops... I haven't found out what it was made for either.

"Coverage" is a relative word, both with Aplanats and the WZ. The WZ should at least illuminate 8x10", but "sharp" will be much less than that.

Very interesting, that WZ.

In somewhat later lenses, an aperture scaled in mm, not f/stops, can be the mark of a macro lens. This seems to be the case, at least, for CZJ products. I've seen two pre-WWI CZJ lenses in RMS thread (another mark of the macro lens beast) with apertures scaled in mm, a Planar and a Tessar. Mikrotars (pre- and post-WWII) have apertures scaled in mm, but Luminars have apertures scaled in exposure factors (1, 2, 4, ... ).

Cheers,

Dan

Ole · Dec 7, 2005

I haven't tried that WZ yet - nor have I tried the casket set.

But I did get around to taking a few pictures of the set - one here:
Dead Link Removed

The rest here: Dead Link Removed

Ole · Dec 7, 2005

Oh no - I had a rummage through the "accumulation"...

I knew this was going to hppen some day, but this was a surprise: The casket set is an exact match for a Thornton-Picard shutter I have! And the curtain just clears the rear of the assembly, too...

cjarvis · Dec 7, 2005

I have a satz no 2. Here are the docs. Hope they help with your aplanat.

Ole · Dec 7, 2005

Wonderful!

Mine has a larger largest aperture, about 24.5mm. I made a quick spreadsheet to calculate f-stops from opening and focal length - and plugging Busch's numbers into that, they didn't bother to correct for the difference beween physical opening and light aperture. So I guess it doesn't matter all that much - or it might be difficult to print on a note small enough to include in the box?

My set doesn't have the "Between" lenses or "Screens" either, but it's not as if I'm going to use it for it's superior sharpness.

tdeming · Dec 7, 2005

Dan Fromm said:
Very interesting, that WZ.

In somewhat later lenses, an aperture scaled in mm, not f/stops, can be the mark of a macro lens. This seems to be the case, at least, for CZJ products. I've seen two pre-WWI CZJ lenses in RMS thread (another mark of the macro lens beast) with apertures scaled in mm, a Planar and a Tessar. Mikrotars (pre- and post-WWII) have apertures scaled in mm, but Luminars have apertures scaled in exposure factors (1, 2, 4, ... ).

Cheers,

Dan

FWIW, my WZ is marked in f-stops. Some translations I've seen for the "WZ" are "soft focus" in german, which should be the case. Another source states that "WZ" might be the initials of a local photographer who worked a lot with Voigtlander in those times!

Ole · Dec 7, 2005

"Soft focus" would be "Weichzeichner", which shouldn't have been abbreviated to WZ. But the other explanation is no better

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