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My collection
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:39 am    Post subject: My collection Reply with quote

Hi every !

I'm happy to show you some lenses of my collection. For my first, i've choose the Angenieux Type Y1 90mm f/2.5 here on a Leica IIIC. Very good lens, tested on Nikon D810 :







PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like 1 small Like 1 small Like 1 small Welcome here!


PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome!

That is one sweet lens Exclamation


PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you !!! An other sweet candy : Som Berthiot / Sopelem 25mm f/0.95 C mount





PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

French-Lenses wrote:
Thank you !!! An other sweet candy : Som Berthiot / Sopelem 25mm f/0.95 C mount

Nice. I'm looking forward to see its triangle bokeh Wink


PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

y wrote:

Nice. I'm looking forward to see its triangle bokeh Wink

Yes, me too Very Happy


PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find it very strange for a Taylor & Hobson Monital to be made in France rather than Leicester, England. Either TT&H contracted out the production or that little plate on the side is lying. Maybe Sopelem was also a part of the giant Rank Corporation that bought out TT&H in the 1960s?


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

y wrote:
French-Lenses wrote:
Thank you !!! An other sweet candy : Som Berthiot / Sopelem 25mm f/0.95 C mount

Nice. I'm looking forward to see its triangle bokeh Wink


I will try to test it soon ^^


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I find it very strange for a Taylor & Hobson Monital to be made in France rather than Leicester, England. Either TT&H contracted out the production or that little plate on the side is lying. Maybe Sopelem was also a part of the giant Rank Corporation that bought out TT&H in the 1960s?


This lens was made in france by Sopelem for RTH. In 1964, famous Som Berthiot company became Sopelem and has continued to produce optics also for others companies (RTH, Foca ...).
I have others Som Berthiot / Sopelem made for RTH Wink


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I find it very strange for a Taylor & Hobson Monital to be made in France rather than Leicester, England. Either TT&H contracted out the production or that little plate on the side is lying. Maybe Sopelem was also a part of the giant Rank Corporation that bought out TT&H in the 1960s?


I know nothing of the "French Connection" but the Rank Organisation was certainly scaling down lens production by the mid-1960s. By 1966 the Ental enlarging lenses were being assembled at the Rank-Kershaw factory in Leeds from stocks of components previously shipped up from Leicester. I worked for a photo-retailer in Leeds at the time and remember the lenses being delivered by the man who actually put them together !


Taylor Hobson is one of the very, very few British lens manufacturers for which an archive of factory records survives. Sadly, the majority of them are now outside the UK, held privately and not easily (if at all) accessible by researchers. Still, the present owners of the successor company, Cooke Optics (https://www.cookeoptics.com/) value its heritage and I hope that one day its US "parents" will publish a history of TTH.

My apologies to French-Lenses for jumping into his thread like this.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

scsambrook wrote:
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I find it very strange for a Taylor & Hobson Monital to be made in France rather than Leicester, England. Either TT&H contracted out the production or that little plate on the side is lying. Maybe Sopelem was also a part of the giant Rank Corporation that bought out TT&H in the 1960s?


I know nothing of the "French Connection" but the Rank Organisation was certainly scaling down lens production by the mid-1960s. By 1966 the Ental enlarging lenses were being assembled at the Rank-Kershaw factory in Leeds from stocks of components previously shipped up from Leicester. I worked for a photo-retailer in Leeds at the time and remember the lenses being delivered by the man who actually put them together !


Taylor Hobson is one of the very, very few British lens manufacturers for which an archive of factory records survives. Sadly, the majority of them are now outside the UK, held privately and not easily (if at all) accessible by researchers. Still, the present owners of the successor company, Cooke Optics (https://www.cookeoptics.com/) value its heritage and I hope that one day its US "parents" will publish a history of TTH.

My apologies to French-Lenses for jumping into his thread like this.


Thank you this is very interesting ! The only things i know on RTH is that Som Berthiot has made some lenses rebadged RTH Monital.
I have others RTH lenses, used for television 35mm cameras. These are "Varotal" 21-210mm made in UK.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome! Friends


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:47 pm    Post subject: SOM Berthiot to Exalitos Reply with quote

The story of how SOM Berthiot (remember Bolex zooms) merges with OPL (of Opla fame) to become SOPELEM then SFIM and SAGEM plus with SNECMA morphed into SAFRAN requires an in depthe study of French millitary procurement and how Thompson\Thales lost out in the first round. This is not made less transparent by Rank Xerox which swallowed TTH 70years ago, agreeing to share manufacturing secrets and markets with SOPELEM and Cooke eventually gaining feedom.

The alphabet soup had Vickers , Dassault, General Electric , British Aerospace, Aerospatiale and DASA as seasoning adding CASA to become EADS. Optical products and other specialties had a more secure market with the millitary; infrared tank sights, hydaulics for airplanes, guidance systems for missiles.

Somewhere along the way United Scientific Holdings bought bits and pieces while digesting venerable morsels like Alvis. They regurgitated the optics bit, Avimo in Singapore which was bought by Qi optics, the owner of Linos etc.(which in turn owns Rodenstock). At the moment Qi seems to be owned by Exalitos, American investors.

No idea who at the moment owns the right to use the TTH label.

This is even more convoluted than the Leitz-Wild-AO-Hexagon-Blackstone saga with their microscopes, measuring equipment and optics going in many different directions with various owners.

My conclusion is that the French at one point had legal rights to use TTH (Cooke) designs and trade marks and that it was advantageous for whoever owned the various companies that this was so. The trade marks involved had an unblemished reputation to defend, so one must assume that the quality was first class.

Reading what is written on the French websites of OPL etc. on the loss of expertise, I am not so sure whether this major shuffling of shares was advantageous for the economy of the French nation in the longer term, or whether the outsourcing of British expertise was such a good idea. Labels is a marketing ploy, patents and know-how is important, people and skills are what really counts.

p.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have one Angenieux lens.... its on a Carena double 8 camera. I can't figure out how to get it off of the camera. I don't want to ruin the camera though I don't think you can get film for it anymore it seems to function, and I dislike shredding functional cameras for a lens. I also have several Demaria LaPierre lenses attached to some Telka folders. I really like the 90mm Sagittar on the Telka III. I (someday) will figure out how to convert 120 film negatives to digital so I can share some shots.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:42 am    Post subject: Re: SOM Berthiot to Exalitos Reply with quote

paulhofseth wrote:
The story of how SOM Berthiot (remember Bolex zooms) merges with OPL (of Opla fame) to become SOPELEM then SFIM and SAGEM plus with SNECMA morphed into SAFRAN requires an in depthe study of French millitary procurement and how Thompson\Thales lost out in the first round. This is not made less transparent by Rank Xerox which swallowed TTH 70years ago, agreeing to share manufacturing secrets and markets with SOPELEM and Cooke eventually gaining feedom.

The alphabet soup had Vickers , Dassault, General Electric , British Aerospace, Aerospatiale and DASA as seasoning adding CASA to become EADS. Optical products and other specialties had a more secure market with the millitary; infrared tank sights, hydaulics for airplanes, guidance systems for missiles.

Somewhere along the way United Scientific Holdings bought bits and pieces while digesting venerable morsels like Alvis. They regurgitated the optics bit, Avimo in Singapore which was bought by Qi optics, the owner of Linos etc.(which in turn owns Rodenstock). At the moment Qi seems to be owned by Exalitos, American investors.

No idea who at the moment owns the right to use the TTH label.

This is even more convoluted than the Leitz-Wild-AO-Hexagon-Blackstone saga with their microscopes, measuring equipment and optics going in many different directions with various owners.

My conclusion is that the French at one point had legal rights to use TTH (Cooke) designs and trade marks and that it was advantageous for whoever owned the various companies that this was so. The trade marks involved had an unblemished reputation to defend, so one must assume that the quality was first class.

Reading what is written on the French websites of OPL etc. on the loss of expertise, I am not so sure whether this major shuffling of shares was advantageous for the economy of the French nation in the longer term, or whether the outsourcing of British expertise was such a good idea. Labels is a marketing ploy, patents and know-how is important, people and skills are what really counts.

p.


Just wow !!! Thank you for all these informations.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just looked at your site Charline, very impressive!!
And if I may say that: even more impressed to see
a female collecting and selling such rare lenses!! Wink

Would you be willing to tell us a bit how you started
to collect such rarities?


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice with new faces around and more bloggers 😉
You have quite a few interesting pieces there! Looking forward to see more from you.

Cheers
Lars


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kds315* wrote:
I just looked at your site Charline, very impressive!!
And if I may say that: even more impressed to see
a female collecting and selling such rare lenses!! Wink

Would you be willing to tell us a bit how you started
to collect such rarities?


Thanks ! Me and my boyfriend we are photographers and we love to use old lenses. So we begin to collect some rarites since one year.
Today we have used some lenses that i've never hoped to get a day.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nordentro wrote:
Nice with new faces around and more bloggers 😉
You have quite a few interesting pieces there! Looking forward to see more from you.

Cheers
Lars


Thank you, we are happy to find others collectors !


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today, we share to you this Swiss made lens : Kern Macro Switar AR 50mm f/1.8 found on an Alpa mod.9.





Very good lens, tested on Nikon D810 but i've lost photos ... Rolling Eyes


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very Interesting. I have or have owned C-mount and D-mount Kern lenses, but this is the first I've ever seen of 35mm format Kern lenses. Wow, I'll bet that's a very nice lens. Is it a true macro? Meaning does it get down at least to 1:2?


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cooltouch wrote:
Very Interesting. I have or have owned C-mount and D-mount Kern lenses, but this is the first I've ever seen of 35mm format Kern lenses. Wow, I'll bet that's a very nice lens. Is it a true macro? Meaning does it get down at least to 1:2?


Kern has made many lenses for Alpa reflex. I know three versions oh this 50mm lens : oldest kern switar AR 50/1.8, Kern macro Switar AR 50/1.8 and lastest Kern macro Switar AR 50/1.9. Minimal focus is at 28cm.
I have also some Kern lenses in c mount, i will share this.


PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:06 pm    Post subject: two Switars more in Alpa mount Reply with quote

Before the non-macro, auto aperture Switar there was the thin, manually set aperture version. The few very last ones were not in Alpa mounts, but were fitted in Japanese 42mm-thread macro mounts delivered from Pignons with 42 to Alpa adapters.

Theoretically only 2 optical cell designs, 1,8 and 1,9, but different mounts, so a complete collection would have 5, but of course over the years, other glass types and coatings could have become available.

p.


PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:19 pm    Post subject: Re: two Switars more in Alpa mount Reply with quote

paulhofseth wrote:
Before the non-macro, auto aperture Switar there was the thin, manually set aperture version. The few very last ones were not in Alpa mounts, but were fitted in Japanese 42mm-thread macro mounts delivered from Pignons with 42 to Alpa adapters.

Theoretically only 2 optical cell designs, 1,8 and 1,9, but different mounts, so a complete collection would have 5, but of course over the years, other glass types and coatings could have become available.

p.


Thank you for these informations !


PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome!