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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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Kodak Ektar f2 45mm
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:38 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:38 am
Post subject: Kodak Ektar f2 45mm
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Hi folks

I picked up this old and unusual lens on ebay for next to nothing.



Hard to find any info, but the wikipedia page on double gauss lenses has this snippet:

Quote:
Early Double Gauss permutations for 35mm cameras included the Kodak Ektar 45mm f/2 on the Kodak Bantam Special (1936, USA)


Clearly my lens isn't from a Bantam Special but it may be optically the same, just in a different mount.

I also found this info:

Quote:
Kodak Ektar 2/45 (for Bantam Special)
6 elements in 4 groups, covers 28x40mm negatives


There is no focusing mount, just an aperture ring, the mount is heavy brass, the lens comes apart easily and I will need to clean it as there is a lot of dust and crap inside and the rear element group is a bit cloudy, needs a thorough clean but luckily there seems to be no fungus at all and with a good clean it should be almost perfect, optically.

I found a bit of interesting info on Ektar lenses:

Quote:
Ektar was used by Kodak as a trade name for its premium lenses. There were a number of generic designs used for them. Ektars were all very high quality lenses. The ones made for press and view cameras were mostly Tessar types. Exceptions are the Wide Field Ektars, which are four element air-spaced lenses of the "Double Gause" type, and the 203mm f/7.7 Ektar which is a four-element air-spaced Dialye type, made slightly non-symetrical to improve its correction for distant objects.

All of these lenses are completely corrected for lateral color and were intended for color photography. Some Ektars were coated as early as 1940. These include the series of f/6.3 lenses marked "Eastman Ektar", which are the predicessors of the Commerical Ektar series. The early coatings were soft and applied only to inside surfaces.

Other early coated Ektars were the lenses made for the Ektra camera and for the Medallist. Other Ektar lenses were not coated until after about 1946.

Kodak had a very advanced glass plant and made their own optical glass. They developed commercially the rare-earth glasses discovered at the National Bureau of Standards and were one of the first manufacturers to use Lanthanum Crown glass.

Ektars are also among the earliest lenses to be cemented with thermo-setting synthetic adhesives rather than the traditional Canada Balsam.

Generally, an Ektar in good condition will have excellent performance even by current standards. Kodak quality control after about 1938, when Rudolph Kingslake took over the optical department, was excellent.


So what I have here is a premium lens from the 1940s in an unusual brass mount, no idea what it is from, possibly something military given the vintage?

I will give this a thorough clean and polish then figure out a focussing mount for it.

Anyone got any idea what type of performance and rendering this lens will have? I'm guessing it will be similar to the Zeiss Biotar 2/58 so it will be interesting to compare it to my Helios 44-2.


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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:53 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:53 am
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No aperture ?

Could be a projection lens.


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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:54 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:54 am
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I found a similar Ektar here:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/jore0902/sets/72157617908787023/



Sadly there are't any sample pics taken with the lens.


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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:00 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:00 am
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luisalegria wrote:
No aperture ?

Could be a projection lens.


It has an aperture, I am certain it's the 6 elements in 4 groups double gauss lens, same as the Bantam Special had, but the unusual mounting confuses me.


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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:09 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:09 am
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Here's a few of mine and they can use "waterhouse" like stops . in the slot of the screw in mount. These came from old printers as I heard it.





They're pretty sharp lenses.


Very Happy


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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:17 am
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:17 am
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Nice lenses. The Ektars started in 1939 and had only soft coatings on the inner elements, the L in a circle indicates hard coatings and began in 1946, mine lacks that mark so I reckon it's from the 39-46 time frame.

That lens mounted on the G1 is clearly the same as mine, it has had the large brass mount plate removed, you can see the three screw holes where it was affixed.

I wonder what a wartime US made lens is doing in England (I bought it from a UK seller) in the first place? I suspect it came here as part of some military equipment although god knows what!

Anyone know what cameras were used by the US Army Signal Corps and the US Army Air Corps during WW2?


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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:52 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:52 am
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Reviving a 6 year old thread because I found this lens on my shelf and decided to finally clean it. It cleaned up nice but the haze on the back element is actually lots of fine scratches.

The serial number is ER357, making it a 1945 production.

I think it has come from some sort of military equipment.

It has 15 aperture blades and is uncoated.

I'll mount it on my NEX and see how it does.


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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:50 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:50 pm
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Hi guys, i've got an m mount Ektar somewhere, I'll dig it out later and post a pic, maybe someone knows if they are adaptable.


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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 2:31 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 2:31 pm
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Hope you get some nice results.
I am curious to see some photos.


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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 6:29 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 6:29 pm
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Nice lenses. The Ektars started in 1939 and had only soft coatings on the inner elements, the L in a circle indicates hard coatings and began in 1946, mine lacks that mark so I reckon it's from the 39-46 time frame.

That lens mounted on the G1 is clearly the same as mine, it has had the large brass mount plate removed, you can see the three screw holes where it was affixed.

I wonder what a wartime US made lens is doing in England (I bought it from a UK seller) in the first place? I suspect it came here as part of some military equipment although god knows what!

Anyone know what cameras were used by the US Army Signal Corps and the US Army Air Corps during WW2?

The date codes for those interested.
http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/KodakID.htm

Found this site while doing a search https://kodakery.com/ thought some might enjoy it.


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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:21 am
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:21 am
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That is an interesting site, cheers.

I tried the lens out briefly and it's not good, those fine scratches have ruined it, the image formed is a glowy, blurry mess.

I'll post a couple of samples later.
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