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Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it ?
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:43 am    Post subject: Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it ? Reply with quote
Well, after being inspired by this group - among others, to be fair, its not ALL your fault - I have aquired an old oscilloscope camera lens, this one is an Ilex Oscillo-Paragon, but branded by Tektronix (a big electronic test equipment manufacturer). It came in a huge Ilex shutter with fully functional speeds and a diaphragm from f/1.3 - f/16 .

I mounted it on a T-mount (of course) as the rear barrel was almost the perfect size.

Here it is on member F16sunshine's Sears/Ricoh -





This thing has a very small focal length behind the rear element, so there is no way to set it up in a focusing mount for a DSLR. As a fixed-focus lens on a T-mount it focused to about 18" (1/2 meter). Wide open it was as expected very fuzzy -





But stopped down it became quite sharp -





I put it on an extension tube to focus closer -



I really wanted to use it for portraits, but to do that I had to remove the two rear elements (easily done) at which point it about doubled in focal length, but gave me a fixed focus of about nine-ten feet -





Its a very interesting lens, or rather a lens kit, as the pieces of this thing are individually interesting.

It should focus to infinity on my Speed Graphic, as I have a Wollensak 90mm lens that does it with some room to spare. It may cover 6x6 cm on 120 film, but who knows. One of these days I'll put it on a lensboard and see.


PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
thanks for sharing your nice experience Luis
I don't find the cat fuzzy for 85mm F1.3
the flowers samples are good, this lens look sharp and usable


PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I love the white flower closeup.

-


PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Interesting experiment with nice results. I like the sharp macros, but also the soft versions and protraits.

Cheers,

Last edited by kds315* on Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:15 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:13 am    Post subject: Re: Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it Reply with quote
luisalegria wrote:
Well, after being inspired by this group - among others, to be fair, its not ALL your fault - I have aquired an old oscilloscope camera lens, this one is an Ilex Oscillo-Paragon, but branded by Tektronix (a big electronic test equipment manufacturer). It came in a huge Ilex shutter with fully functional speeds and a diaphragm from f/1.3 - f/16 .


Nice find, Luis, and thanks for sharing the pictures. The results you get from this lens are very encouraging. I love the two pictures taken wide open (like Poilu, I won't call them fuzzy). The portrait taken with the lens amputated from its two rearmost elements is also great -- I love soft focus pictures.

Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Luis? Do you still have this? I would love to see an image of the shutter. I am having trouble getting an Ilex osccillo paragon lens set into a shutter. I bought an Ilex #3 universal with a portronic lens in and it is just a smidgen too small for the elements to screw into.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it Reply with quote
luisalegria wrote:
Well, after being inspired by this group - among others, to be fair, its not ALL your fault - I have aquired an old oscilloscope camera lens, this one is an Ilex Oscillo-Paragon, but branded by Tektronix (a big electronic test equipment manufacturer). It came in a huge Ilex shutter with fully functional speeds and a diaphragm from f/1.3 - f/16 .

I mounted it on a T-mount (of course) as the rear barrel was almost the perfect size.

This thing has a very small focal length behind the rear element, so there is no way to set it up in a focusing mount for a DSLR. As a fixed-focus lens on a T-mount it focused to about 18" (1/2 meter). Wide open it was as expected very fuzzy -

It should focus to infinity on my Speed Graphic, as I have a Wollensak 90mm lens that does it with some room to spare. It may cover 6x6 cm on 120 film, but who knows. One of these days I'll put it on a lensboard and see.


I have one mounted on a helicoid for Sony E that does focus to infinity, and believe me, you don't wanna do that. The lens is optimized for half life size, and the field is negatively curved to keep the entirety of an oscilloscope CRT screen sharp at that distance, so in addition to being very glowy wide open, the edges get absolutely blurry and stretched. The lens is quite nice closer, and already one stop down it gains considerable contrast. Here are a few of my examples wide open
#1


#2


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:49 pm    Post subject: Re: Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it Reply with quote
kymarto wrote:

I have one mounted on a helicoid for Sony E that does focus to infinity, and believe me, you don't wanna do that. The lens is optimized for half life size, and the field is negatively curved to keep the entirety of an oscilloscope CRT screen sharp at that distance, so in addition to being very glowy wide open, the edges get absolutely blurry and stretched. The lens is quite nice closer, and already one stop down it gains considerable contrast. Here are a few of my examples wide open


Fantastic shots as always - great use of that lens!

Like 1

Can't tell you anything about the Oscillo-Paragon unfortuntely, but I got a Steinheil Oscillo-Quinon 75 mm f/1.9 and can confirm the above: No use in focusing on anything further away, even though you might get some interesting results (because of the curvature) if your subject isn't too far away... You can get that look that draws you in towards the center but only up to a certain point. Up close it's quite good and has a unique look. I've never used it for anything too experimental though, so only speaking from very limited experience.

Oh, look! It's a new lens. by simple.joy, on Flickr

Humans around Easter... still don't quite get them! by simple.joy, on Flickr

In the bulb-ark of 1:1 by simple.joy, on Flickr

Bokeh, egging me on… by simple.joy, on Flickr


PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 9:38 pm    Post subject: Re: Ilex Oscillo-Paragon 80/1.3 - fast and fuzzy - or is it Reply with quote
simple.joy wrote:
kymarto wrote:

I have one mounted on a helicoid for Sony E that does focus to infinity, and believe me, you don't wanna do that. The lens is optimized for half life size, and the field is negatively curved to keep the entirety of an oscilloscope CRT screen sharp at that distance, so in addition to being very glowy wide open, the edges get absolutely blurry and stretched. The lens is quite nice closer, and already one stop down it gains considerable contrast. Here are a few of my examples wide open


Fantastic shots as always - great use of that lens!

Like 1

Can't tell you anything about the Oscillo-Paragon unfortuntely, but I got a Steinheil Oscillo-Quinon 75 mm f/1.9 and can confirm the above: No use in focusing on anything further away, even though you might get some interesting results (because of the curvature) if your subject isn't too far away... You can get that look that draws you in towards the center but only up to a certain point. Up close it's quite good and has a unique look. I've never used it for anything too experimental though, so only speaking from very limited experience.

Oh, look! It's a new lens. by simple.joy, on Flickr

Humans around Easter... still don't quite get them! by simple.joy, on Flickr

In the bulb-ark of 1:1 by simple.joy, on Flickr

Bokeh, egging me on… by simple.joy, on Flickr



Nice shots! I especially like the bulb. It demonstrates that these lenses are very sharp at their optimized working distance. But most oscillo lenses do have negative field curvature, so that the edges get progressively worse as you focus at a distance (or at least the negative curvature becomes more apparent). In my experience, the only oscillo lenses that are useable at further distances are the Wollensak Oscillo Anastigmat and the Dallmeyer Oscillograph. The various Wollensak Oscillo Raptars, the Dallmeyer Octac, all the Oscillo Paragons and the Elgeet Oscillo Navitars and the Nikkor O CRT all demonstrate field curvature. Not sure about the Wollensak Oscillo Amaton. I have a small Oscillo Quinar, the baby brother of your Quinon, that works further away, but I don't find it particularly interesting.
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