What is this Ektar Lens?

[Fotoguy20d]

See the attached photo. I've seen127mm f4.7 Ektars, and 135mm f6.3 wide-field ektars, but what is a 127mm f6.3 Ektar?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[domaz]

Perhaps it's a wide field Gauss type like the other 6.3 Ektars listed on this page? The VM doesn't say anything about a 127mm 6.3 Ektar though very strange..

 

[ntenny]

Maybe it's an early Commercial Ektar---the serial number is a low number from 1946, which is before the "commercial" name was in use, isn't it?

Otherwise I got nothin'.

-NT

 

[patrickjames]

Look at the serial number. Might be a prototype.

 

[Fotoguy20d]

My first thought was a WF similar to the 135 but since it's listed nowhere (not in the VM or anywhere on-line that I found) I was also thinking it could be some sort of test lens. My other thought was maybe some decendant of the cheaper f6.3 anastigmats common on some of the folders.

Dan

 

[Whiteymorange]

Even Brian Wallen's excellent Ektar site doesn't list that one.

 

[Fotoguy20d]

I looked at the photo again - notice from the aperture scale that the shutter is from a 127mm f4.7. I know the cells from a 100mm f3.7 Ektar will fit one of those shutters so perhaps that's not so unusual. It doesn't have flash syncro, and it has three tabs that don't look familiar - one for the aperture ring. I wonder what the others are.

 

[leighmarrin]

Kinda suspicious that it's an f6.3 lens with a f4.7 scale. Looking at my 127mm/f4.7 Ektar, I think someone with a fine brush could easily retouch the "4.7" to read "6.3"; perhaps to make some bogus collectible? The markings on my Ektar are engraved into the metal, and I can feel the slight indentation using a small pointed scribe. If you actually get a chance to view this lens, I'd use a loupe and look really hard at the "6.3" to make sure it's not retouched.

 

[darinwc]

i would agree that the serial number indicates a prototype lens.

Also, I found that there was a Kodak Anastigmat 127mm f6.3 made for the kodak 1a model iii folding camera. Perhaps this Ektar was a proposed decendant.

Dead Link Removed

and on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cased-Kodak-1A-...ography_VintageCameras_SM&hash=item45f34b804c

 

[leighmarrin]

Darin, thanks for the info. (Apologies to whoever owns this lens for my assuming it's a faked/altered attempt at a "collectable".)

FWIW, I have a 3x4 Anniversary Speed Graphic that has a 127mm f4.7 Ektar with a serial number/date of EO693 in a synched Supermatic (X) shutter. While it does not have the circled-L "lumenized" logo that Kodak later used on coated Ektars, mine does appear to be coated. (Slightly rainbowish tinge when looking into the front element.)

Wonder if the lens in Dan's photo is coated?

As the date code is from 1946, there must have been a huge surge in post-WWII manufacturing: perhaps to meet the sales demand, Kodak might have rebadged some old folding camera 127mm f6.3 lenses for use as sales demonstrater models?

 

[Fotoguy20d]

I thought it might be fake too. But, if you look at the glass closely compared to an f4.7, its clear that it's smaller. The more I think about it, the less interested I am (its attached to an anny speed on ebay) in picking up yet another anny to get at this lens - doesn't seem likely to be a WF type. If anyone's interested, I can point them to the auction.

Dan

 

[JPD]

Are there any more pictures of the lens? Seeing the glass from an angle could tell if it's a gauss design.