Want to Buy WTB russian lens ОФ-233 210mm for 5x7 large format camera

[stormpetrel]

I am looking for an ОФ-233 210mm f2.5 lens in good condition for my 5"x7" camera.

PM me if you have one to sell....

 

[rawhead]

Just bought one on Ebay the other day, looking forward to receiving it. If I decide it's not for me, I'll let you know.

 

[stormpetrel]

I will be very interested to see your pictures done with this lens on flickr! Did you solve the problem of the shutter?
Cheers,

 

[rawhead]

I'll see if I can mount it somehow on my Speed Graphic or 4x5 R.B. Graflex.

 

[Dan Fromm]

rawhead, before you chase more FSU lenses, go to http://www.lallement.com/pictures/files.htm and download the 1963 GOI and 1970 and '71 Yakovlev catalogs. They're very useful resources. Note, resolution figures are for the lens wide open.

Not quite a lens for 5x7. The 1963 GOI catalog says that it covers 196 mm.

A small caution. That monster's exit pupil should be ~ 84 mm in diameter. If you put it in front of a smaller hole, the lens' diaphragm will have no effect until until the stopped down exit pupil's diameter is no larger than the hole.

 

[rawhead]

Hi Dan, yes, I do have those documents. They are.... salivatory...

 

[stormpetrel]

Thank you Dan! I will download the catalogs and have a close look .

The information I got from this lens comes from this Russian website http://www.photohistory.ru/index.php?pid=1214755009023752 which shows the ОФ-233 210mm being a 13cmX18cm lens with an image circle of 222mm. I have also found some pictures done with this lens and a 5x7 large format camera ( http://club.foto.ru/forum see the picture of the bohemian in the middle of the page). There is a bit of vignetting indeed but it is not too bad. I do not expect a great resolution from this kind of lens anyway, just a nice overall rendering for experimental photography!

 

[rawhead]

This guy has a few 12x18 images (roughly 5x7, no?) on Flickr with good coverage. I guess OK with portrait distance? (That's pretty much how it should be used anyway)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/victor-v/6224198772/

 

[Dan Fromm]

Hi Dan, yes, I do have those documents. They are.... salivatory...

I used to think so too. Now I'm less young and, I hope, less unwise and have read this: http://web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~gpetrie/Petrie_Kalao_Testing_Russar_SWA_Photography_fulltext.pdf Talk about damning with faint praise. If really really serious lenses like that one were made so badly in the FSU, what hope is there for the rest?

These days I have great trouble making myself chase lenses. There are two lenses on my wish list and one on my wild fantasy list. I don't need the two, probably can't use the one. I tell myself that I have what I need, am in fact divesting.

Cheers,

Dan