Goerz Tenax Dogmar ~1923

[Nesster]

I was enticed by these ads:

Goerz Rollfilm Tenax 1921 by Nesster, on Flickr


Goerz Dogmar f/4.5 - Cin-Set cine camera and projector 1926 by Nesster, on Flickr

and found this:

Goerz Tenax 1921-24 by Nesster, on Flickr


Goerz Rollfilm Tenax, top view by Nesster, on Flickr


Goerz Rollfilm Tenax Dogmar 1921-24 by Nesster, on Flickr

This camera was introduced in 1921 and Goerz merged into Zeiss Ikon in 1926. The Compur serial number puts it between 1922 and 1924; the Dogmar serial number puts it between 1920 and 1922 - so I'm assuming this camera is from ~1923.

The Dogmar probably could use some careful internal cleaning - it isn't entirely crystal clear - which shows up in low contrast and flare whenever strong light is in the frame... However it has good definition and bokeh too! LOL


Geo. Washington on Wall St by Nesster, on Flickr

This one is pretty much as scanned - I tweaked levels a tiny bit + sharpened .2 @ 180%
Large size here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/5444418561/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Here's a crop - the contrast is low as I had the lens nearly all the way open + above her there's some sun coming down the street... I focused on the woman - or the distance I figured she was at


Posing on Wall St by Nesster, on Flickr

'100% crop' is here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/5445019212/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Katastrofo]

Nice, I've been waiting to see what this camera can do. Love the retro look
of that second one!

[Attila]

Camera looks in awesome condition, congrats!!! IQ is not my cup of tea , many thanks for sharing them!

[luisalegria]

Thats a lovely and very clean Tenax ! The focus mechanism on these is unique.

I have a Dogmar too, a 13.5cm. I haven't yet used it, as it came on a Wollensak "Auto" shutter, which is a bit cranky. I have a nice new Rapax for it though, just need to put in an aperture scale.

It should be easy enough to clean, just unscrew the cells, and the cells likewise easily unscrew so you can get at all the elements. This should indeed improve it greatly. I have similar lens designs (Eurynar, etc.) that have perfectly fine contrast when clean.

That was one of the premium folder models, with unit focusing, not front cell. Other makers like Certo and Voigtlander also had premium folders like this.

[Katastrofo]

How is that spirit level working out for you? The only spirit level I have
is if I've been drinking, doesn't work very well at all...

[Nesster]

Bill, the bubble is a bit larger than original, but it does work... hic... If I'm ever stuck in a snow bank...

The IQ I think I can improve on, though it will be vintage-ish. By my observation, between the 20s and mid-30s lens construction got better, the designs stayed pretty much the same. Self erecting folders crowded out these open and pull types, and self erecting ones have the front cell focus. After cleaning and fitting a shade, and when the weather warms up some, I'll take the Goerz for another spin.

Kodak in the day had some very competetive models - I just found a Pocket Kodak that's in extremely good shape, crystal clear lens, and even the autographic stylus is still with it. Based on some reading, the premium Kodak Anastigmats of the '20s were also 4 element jobs. The Series II I've shown here earlier was a self erecting, front cell focusing model... I'll take off the back of the lens to see if there are 2 back there.

[Katastrofo]

Is the Pocket Kodak 120 or 620?

[Nesster]

Bill, it's 120, or rather autographic 120... well before they foisted 620 on us...
Click here to see on Ebay
http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium/pm.cgi?action=display&login=no1pocketkodak

[Katastrofo]

Cool, seems like some take 116 film, too.

[F16SUNSHINE]

Me Likey!
This old rendering is not everyone's bit but, I love it.
Love to see some Fuji pro 160S shot with this low contrast.

This is a great shot BTW. Sweet expression

[cooltouch]

Nice find, Nesster. And a nice format too -- 2-1/4 x 3-1/4. I've heard of the Dogmar, but yours are the first pics I've seen from one.

It makes me wonder what the Dagor's performance is like on those old cameras.

[mmelvis]

Really cool looking camera,Good find

[fish4570]

what a handsome machine that is ...

[Seele]

Jussi,

Many years ago I had a similar Rollfilm Tenax with a Dagor, it was a higher grade - at least more costly to build - lens andd it worked quite well without the eight air-to-glass surfaces to tarnish and reflect, lowering contrast. Even earlier I had a CdV Tenax with Dogmar, a corner-strut plate camera I used with sheet film in its original double-darkslides, and the contrast was not severely compromised as the lens was in exceptionally clean condition.

These dialyte lenses (Goerz Dogmar, Celor, Syntor, Artar etc) can indeed be of very high performance and more suitable for stretching to larger apertures such as f/4.5; the Dagor and related designs a lot less so. The dialyte design was extensively used as aerial surveillance lenses, which also included the TTH Aviar and others. Obviously, when brand new, contrast lost due to flare was not a huge problem, but the passage of time was not too kind to this design due to surface tarnish, creating severe light scattering.

The general application of surface coating after WWII gave the dialyte design a new lease of life: witness the success of the American-built Goerz examples such as the Artar series. This also applies to continental lenses such as the Repro-Claron, Apo-Ronar, and such; while these lenses were designed to give limited angle of coverage optimized for low-magnification close-up work, they are still perfectly good as long-focus general purpose large-format lenses.

A lens worth mentioning is the Kodak 203/7.7 designed for the 5" X 7" format, which is also coated. I like mine but not the very cranky Epsilon shutter it's mounted in! If in a modern, reliable shutter like a Copal it would be my workaday lens.

Personally, Jussi: I would not go as far as trying to get your Dogmar coated, but a good clean would improve performance quite significantly. Also bear in mind that at the time, prints were generally contact printed on self-masking POP, so negatives were developed to a much higher gamma than what we consider correct nowadays.

[Nesster]

Thanks for all the excellent info & comments... per the attached two further photos, it seems there may be a light leak that also robs the photos of contrast, I'll have to track it down.


camera pin-up Goerz Rollfilm Tenax 1923 by Nesster, on Flickr


Security Confab in Freezing Weather by Nesster, on Flickr

I can see why the old Goerz lenses are so valuable - I've scanned some photos from magazines or US Camera annuals, various Goerz lenses were pretty extensively used by pros back in the day.

Also, there's a couple of ads for sale on ebay of very early Kodak folders - from the 1900s or teens - where Goerz replaced the Kodak shutter and lens with their own & sold these modified cameras... I'd love to see one of those!

[Seele]

Jussi,

I hope you can track down the source of the bright patch in the last picture, and get it fixed!

Regarding Kodak cameras with Goerz lenses and shutters: in the earlier days of Kodak, the cameras were extremely well-built that the lens companies - including Goerz - saw them as very viable platforms to sell lenses. In a sense it was a little like the car tuning firms such as Alpina and Hartge, who buy BMW cars, modify them, and then sell them.

By the way I know of plenty of people who buy medium format cameras fitted with these high-grade lenses, smash them up, extract the lenses, and fit them to 35mm or digital SLRs. Apart from the fact that it is an act of vandalism, the result would be much less satisfactory than hoped for: with lenses like the Dagor, Dogmar etc, they're optimized for the format they're intended to cover. They would deliberately back off from the maximum possible correction in the middle and spread it out to the critical mid-field areas, so if you use only a small slice in the middle, then you are not using the lens at its best. Certainly, the lens can be re-optimized but it is not something I would want to try myself!

[Banjo]

I love the dog's tracksuit.

[Laurence]

This is the stuff that is highly interesting! Thanks so much for the
nice postings.