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Kodak Dialyte lenses, 170mm and 130mm
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 4:28 pm    Post subject: Kodak Dialyte lenses, 170mm and 130mm Reply with quote

I've been playing around with old folding camera lenses recently. I have two Kodak Anastigmat lenses of the Dialyte type (4 elements in 4 groups). One is 170mm and the other 130mm. Both are f7.7.

Compared with the Rapid Rectilinear lenses I have they are much sharper, showing non of the obvious spherical aberration the RR's have wide open. Of course, these lenses are uncoated so low contrast can be an issue with 8 air-glass interfaces. By keeping the sun behind me and avoiding bright backgrounds, the results can be pleasing.

These samples were taken with the lenses bellows mounted on my Oly OM-D E-M5. This is means I am making a severe crop of the full image circle, which is not very fair to the lens. These pictures were also all taken at focus distances the original cameras would not be able to achieve. Thus, they are not sharp compared to modern lenses; but they are sharp enough and have an attractive quality to my mind.

PP is limited to modest curves and levels and slight cropping for composition. No sharpening has been added.

First the 130mm. These were all at f11. Taken today and benefitting from a bit of sunlight. Some of the flowers are a bit battered by recent rain.










PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These are with the 170mm lens. Taken a couple of weeks ago in duller conditions. all taken at f7.7 except the 3rd one which is f11.









PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They look good to m. I have a few dialytes for use on my large format cameras and I like em, they are very sharp, usually sharper than a contemporary Tessar, but lower contrast. Another interesting thing about dialytes is they don't sharpen up on stopping down, they are as sharp wide open as they are gonna get. Also, the image circle is quite small for the focal length and the field is close to flat, they are also fairly close to uniformly sharp across the image circle. Quite different characteristics to most lens types.

Last edited by iangreenhalgh1 on Sat Sep 21, 2013 6:23 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like Dialytes a lot and these shots look good to me!

Last edited by kds315* on Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:50 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remarkable results.