I recently came into a 12" f/6.3 Wray Wide Angle lens, and wonder if anyone out there is familar with it. The lens is in barrel, coated, and is 4/4 design, probably a double Gauss like the Wide Field Ektar. Coverage appears good: On my 11x14 the lens easily gives me 3" of front rise, and would clearly give more if the camera allowed. Using front swing to get to the edges of the light, I note that there is some field curvature (although much less than my 210/9 Computar) and the last inch or two of the image circle are not sharp, although they improve a bit stopped down.
I haven't found very much information on the lens, and would appreciate any knowledge. The Vade Mecum has a brief paragraph:
Anybody using or used one of these?
I haven't found very much information on the lens, and would appreciate any knowledge. The Vade Mecum has a brief paragraph:
Wide Angle Anastigmat f6.3 89mm (3.5in) for 5x4, 7in for 1/2plate. See Wra013 This is in the same design group as the Zeiss Topogon, with very deep external curves and a thick walled Gauss layout. The 89mm version is a generous design. In use it covers 90° at f11 and 100° at f16 or less, or as the B.J.A. 1950 p212 found at f6.3 it covers a 1/4plate, (75°) almost perfectly, at f11 a 1/2plate with a little fall off and at f16 a 1/2plate is well covered. They said it would be ideal for a 5x4in camera, and: (a) it was available in an Epsilon shutter, but: (b) the illustration was of a lens in a barrel mount at No70,890 (advert. idem, p418) and these have been seen but are the uncommon version. (This coverage is a touch less than the Schneider Angulon and the contrast and corrections are probably a touch less good. But for many purposes the lenses are a close match. Users did find that the Wray had a lower contrast under difficult conditions and ultimately chose the Angulon as the more reliable. Today with multicoating it might be a closer run thing.)
Anybody using or used one of these?