Wallace Heaton Zodellar

[medform-norm]

Our mailman brought us a package containing some old glass. One of the pieces is a Wallace Heaton Zodellar Anastigmat 4.5f no. 7. (Made in Germany for Wallace Heaton). It was adverstised as a half plate lens. It is quite a big/heavy piece of glass. Surprisingly enough, it renders an image comparable to our 240 G-Claron - but without having to draw the bellows out as much as with the G-Claron. It appears to be a pretty sharp lens with a nice bokeh, even though the Claron is more contrasty. All in all, we're quite happy with it - and when it turns out to give disappointing results, we can still say that even for a paper weight it was excessively cheap.

Now I have done my webresearch, but found nothing much on this lens. Anyone here know anything - likely production dates, intended use, etc? If not, it's no big deal either.

Cheers, medform-norm

 

[Seele]

Wallace Heaton of Bond Street, London, was one of the most respected photographic equipment dealers in the UK for many decades, and used the "Zodel" brand for its private label products supplied by various OEM makers. It would be somewhat difficult to find out who actually made this lens, but if it is mounted in a shutter it can be used as some sort of a ballpark figure to date it. Shooting from the hip I would say it's probably of pre-WWII manufacture.

 

[medform-norm]

Wallace Heaton of Bond Street, London, was one of the most respected photographic equipment dealers in the UK for many decades, and used the "Zodel" brand for its private label products supplied by various OEM makers. It would be somewhat difficult to find out who actually made this lens, but if it is mounted in a shutter it can be used as some sort of a ballpark figure to date it. Shooting from the hip I would say it's probably of pre-WWII manufacture.

Hi Herr Seele
(this is the name of one of my favorite comic figures of the Dutch language),
thanks for the effort of helping us. You were right: it IS indeed a pre-WW2 lens. It's number is 54914. It's mounted in a shutter that looks very 1920s-1930s. It came with a broad flange - to mount it on some kind of largish plate camera. In fact, it's as big as the round opening on my peco junior lens boards. I suppose it will remain a wild guess which German pre-WW2 lens maker did this anastigmat. Never mind. It is interesting to know Zodel was the name of a private label product. Bit of a weird name, don't you think? Any idea where that came from?

 

[Ole]

The lens Vademecum has this to say on the subject:

Wallace Heaton, Bond St, London, UK. They were a leading retailer in the UK for generations, publishing a very useful "Blue Book" catalogue for many years. They imported and sold lenses under their trade names Zodel and Zodellar, which are listed below under 'Z'.

Unfortunately there is no mention of "Zodel" or "Zodellar" under 'Z'.

 

[Seele]

It is interesting to know Zodel was the name of a private label product. Bit of a weird name, don't you think? Any idea where that came from?

Lots of photographic equipment dealers had their private label products; for instance, City Sales and Exchange had its private label called "Salex" which is easy to understand. Perhaps "Zodel" was just a meaningless name someone thought up, sort of like "Kodak"?

 

[medform-norm]

The lens Vademecum has this to say on the subject:


Unfortunately there is no mention of "Zodel" or "Zodellar" under 'Z'.

Hehe, that's hilarious! Sounds like something Douglas Adams could have thought of.