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Rarity search help [Open thread]
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:37 pm    Post subject: Rarity search help [Open thread] Reply with quote
I thought it would be nice to open a thread where we can put our rarities.
I think those ones what you can't find in on-line searches at all.

If you have a picture from lens , camera , accessories that would be great help in more accurate identify.

Last edited by Attila on Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:07 pm; edited 3 times in total


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't have many:

Rathenower Optische Werke Visionar 1.9/168
Rathenower Optische Werke Rectimascope 48/2x (anamorphic adapter)
Ross Xpress f4 5 inch Air Ministry
Ross Expandascope (anamorphic adapter)
Kalee Variable Anamorphot (only arrived today, huge prismatic thing)


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I never heard any of them, I will try to seek Google might be I will find something.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hi

iangreenhalgh1,

most of your lenses can be found on the web, is there anything u like to know about them ?.

Ross Xpress f4 5 inch Air Ministry - like ->
(http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_C299.html)
(http://www.apug.org/forums/forum44/78296-ross-air-ministry-lens.html ( is the ian who responds in this treat u ? Razz)


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I just listed the rarest ones I have, there is a little info available on all, I don't have anything really rare, sadly.

Thats a different Ian, not me.

My lens is one of the ones that has no markings other than the 'crows feet' and a serial number so may not be made by Ross, I know it has a 70 degree field of view and will cover a 5" x 7" plate, but I don't now much else, it is said that wide open, it is closer to F3 than f4 as marked.

The Visionar is one I have not been able to find any specifics on, only that it is a 35mm movie projection lens and Rathenower made lots of models in different focal lengths.

I could do with knowing some technical info on the Ross Expandoscope an the Kalee/Rank lens as I need to figure out what lenses to attach them to and how to use them for lanscape work.

Ideally, I'd like to use the Kalee with the second Ross f4 5 inch I've just bought. I'm planning to DIY a 6x17 panoramic rollfilm camera and it would be cool to use an anamorphic with that, would make for some very wide panoramas if it worked.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Golden summilux M 1,4/50 with golden apertures too. Out of catalogue. Sold to an argentine collector

Voigtlander Super Lanthar 2,8/50 mm srl lens. Sold with my viogtlanser colection. Not high priced.

Leica M3 body, d.s. and selector to use in s.s. Very very rare.I can´t fin it in any catalogue. Modificated one? Prototype? I dopn't know. I sold it at a very good price.


Rino.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Good idea for a thread Attila Smile

I don't have any valuable rarities but I am curious about an Auto Papagon 200mm F3.5 I recently picked up in M42 mount...Google only returns two pages in China Confused

By the way, Papagon is not a spelling error (I am well aware of the Paragon brand).

Any info from members is appreciated.

Smile


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sound is funny Papagon a parrot name coming into my mind. Laughing


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Sound is funny Papagon a parrot name coming into my mind. Laughing


Yes or maybe the designer's parents got divorced Laughing


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Laughing Laughing


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think my Sun 135 f3.5 would qualify as my rarest lens. Made in the 1960's by Sankor for Sun. This is the only copy I've ever seen.
http://forum.mflenses.com/sun-135-3-5-t31292.html


PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
my rarest would be a Tele Kominar f3.5/135mm.
search returns results where I had mentioned it and a few Japanese sites

Kominar lenses were made by Nittō Kōgaku, but this lens is not mentioned in the camerapedia article: http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Nitt%C5%8D_K%C5%8Dgaku

Nittō Kōgaku is still producing lenses today: http://www.nittohkogaku.co.jp/english/

I had presented the lens here already: http://forum.mflenses.com/tele-kominar-135mm-f3-5-t7180,highlight,%2Btele+%2Bkominar.html


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Military Sonnar 18cm f2.8 L39




Friend of mine bought it when a Luftwaffe pilot passed away.
Finally I did purchase from him, I never seen any info on NET. Some old Hungarian collector could recognise it they said military finish is obvious (more stripes on focusing barrel) , friend of mine said less than 10 pcs made. Any info much appropriate!


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Why it has that big serial number if only 10 pieces were made?


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Himself wrote:
Why it has that big serial number if only 10 pieces were made?


27 is year code rest of it unknown for me, not means how many pieces made that for sure. Usually even if we have source, lens made in small batch like 300 or so it has long serial number at Carl Zeiss Jena.


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is all the info I can find about my Kalee Variomorph lens, it was made by Taylor, Taylor and Hobson and is a strange device with a prismatic system, quite different to most anamorphic lenses that use a cylindrical element:

Quote:
Anamorphic VistaVision

Paramount developed and promoted VistaVision in the U.S. In England, The Rank Organisation adopted the high resolution process. In addition to the standard 35mm reduction prints, Rank released several films in 8 perf horizontal format. In 1957, they announced that another print format was available, an anamorphic system similar to the one proposed by Paramount but with some differences. In the Rank anamorphic format, the print received a 1.33x squeeze instead of 1.5x that Paramount had recommended, and, like Paramount, they reverted back to the Academy 1.37:1 frame specifications. This yielded a screen image close to 1.85:1, the most favored non-CinemaScope aspect ratio. The benefit derived from the anamorphic print is that the frame was 33% larger than a "flat" 1.85:1 print, resulting in a brighter, sharper image on screen. The Rank anamorphic system offered a slightly better image than Paramount's anamorphic system because a slightly larger part of the original negative was used. For projection of their anamorphic prints they offered the "Varamorph" adjustable anamorphic prismatic lens, illustrated below. Obviously Panavision, Superscope, and Hi-Lux variable anamorphic lenses, which had been on the market since 1954, could be used for this system as well.

The "Varamorph" (below) was manufactured by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson, a highly respected optical house that had become a division of Rank by this time, and marketed by Gaumont-Kalee.



Kalee Varamorph variable anamorphic lens



The Kalee Varamorph lens, designed for Rank's anamorphic 1.85:1 VistaVision, wound up showing CinemaScope for the most part. The Varamorph is fully adjustable from 0x to 2x anamorphic decompression. The lens has marks for 1.37x, 1.5x, and 2x. J. Arthur Rank ordered a small number of 1.33x anamorphic prints. Other than those, the Varamorphs wound up being locked off at 2x for CinemaScope films.

At right, Gaumont-Kalee 35mm projector fitted with magnetic and optical sound plus a Varamorph adjustable anamorphic lens.
Photo Courtesy of David Johnson





How the hell am I going to go about adapting this huge, heavy cast metal beast is a mystery to me, probably best to mate it to a projector lens, so Probably best to attach it to my Rathenower Visionar which is a Projector lens for this type of film projector. Or maybe it will work well with ne of my Ross f4 5-inch lenses?

I will have to buy a very hefty tripod to support that lens combo though, must be a good 15 kilos of metal and glass! oh, and would be over 0.5m long as well, without camera attached!


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I found a picture of this lens on an old projector - it's the large gold boxy-shaped thing at the front:



Another picture of the lens, you get an idea how big it is:



And this is the projector it was attached to:



I notice that this lens is installed a fair distance from the lens on the projector and not attached to it, obviously for use with a camera, it will need to be attached to the objective lens, I can see this being a very difficult or maybe impossible job to convert it to use on a camera, but I like a challenge!

This is the version of the lens I have:



The American Widescreen musem website says this about it:

Quote:
> > Gaumont-Kalee introduced the Varamorph variable anamorphic lens
> > to compliment Rank's 1.37x prints. It was a top quality device weighing
> > slightly more than an armored car with three settings on its adjustment
> > dial, 1.37x, 1.5x, and 2x. Like its American counterparts, the Varamorph
> > wound up being locked down in the 2x position.
>
> We've got two of those behemoths and they're beautiful! They have more
> positions marked than you note ... including 1.25x

The Super Panatar and the Gaumont-Kalee Varamorph are both incredible
boat anchors. Talk about heavy! The factory markings on the lens I
have, which I obtained from John Mitchell in Oz, indicate only 1.38x,
1.5x, and 2.0x


PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is my copy of tthe lens, serial number 1010 (probably only a few thousand were made) and it is in optically very good condition, no fungus or scratches, just a tiny bit of dust. Has the mount to put it on a projector with it.






Might not be all that rare, but it is certainly unusual imho.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
What is 'rare' for the purpose of this thread? Is a lens 'rare' if copies exist, but few (if any) people write about it? Of if it is not basically a camera lens? I am not sure whether any of these would qualify as 'rare':

* Rodenstock XR-Heligon 120/1.8 (Xray)
* Schenider Betavaron 50-125/4-5.6 (enlarger zoom)
* Schneider PC-Cinelux 60/2.8 (projector) perspective control
* Industar-58 75/3.8 (enlarger or projector?) big black horn
* TDC-VIVID and GoldE Anastigmat's 127/3.5 (projector)
* Gundlach Turner-Reich Anastigmat 12in f/7 (large format)
* Beattie-Coleman Photo Navitar 10in f/4.5 (large format)
* Gefitec Auto Zoom 85-210/4.5 (Minolta MD mount)

That last was probably churned out by Kiron, but I can't find GEFITEC anywhere. Oh yeah, I can use all of these (except the Gefitec) on my K20D.

At home, I have a few odd optical objects, the oddest being one that I have not yet successfully photographed. It is in a nameless sealed-base lens body about 6cm diameter and 5cm high, and weighs 220g. Behind the deeply curved objective is a sort of mirror-prism arrangement. Strangeness: Aim light at it. Rotate this optical item 180 degrees, and the reflection rotates 360 degrees!


PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I do have a few rare lenses. My favorite is the Fujinon-SW S f:5.6 50mm, a super wide designed for the Fujica G690 series. These cameras were made in the 1960-70s. They delivered 6 x 9 pictures on 120 or 220 film and had interchangeable lenses. The 50mm, launched in 1973, was the widest lens of the lot, with an angle of view exceeding 90°, the same as a 21mm lens on full frame 24 x 36. Optically, it was a superb lens but, since this lens was very expensive when it first appeared and also since it only went for sale for five years, there are only a few units remaining today. I am lucky enough to have two copies of this outstanding lens.

Here's the lens:



And here it is on a GL690 camera :



Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:

Ross Xpress f4 5 inch Air Ministry


Rare only if a civilian (non A.M. marked) version made by Ross themselves. Copies made under Air Ministry orders are quite common and the cheapest large format wide angle around. Even more so as you'll often end as the only bidder since they are near impossible to sift out on ebay, not being marked with anything long or descriptive enough to be used for a search, apart from the reference number (mostly 14A/843, plus some others) which few sellers are wise enough to put into their description.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Good point Sevo, the second Ross I just bought cost me 10ukp because it was just listed as 'old brass lens', seller knew nothing about it, slightly blurry pic, luckily I recognised the lens from the pic and, like my first copy it's in excellent condition with unmarked sparkling glass.

This second one is No. 171326 and has ref. no. 14A/1101, doesn't have ny other markings apart from 'f4 5in', f-stops 4, 5.6, 8 and 11 and the crown with 'A M' either eide.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Abbazz wrote:
I do have a few rare lenses. My favorite is the Fujinon-SW S f:5.6 50mm, a super wide designed for the Fujica G690 series. These cameras were made in the 1960-70s. They delivered 6 x 9 pictures on 120 or 220 film and had interchangeable lenses. The 50mm, launched in 1973, was the widest lens of the lot, with an angle of view exceeding 90°, the same as a 21mm lens on full frame 24 x 36. Optically, it was a superb lens but, since this lens was very expensive when it first appeared and also since it only went for sale for five years, there are only a few units remaining today. I am lucky enough to have two copies of this outstanding lens.

Here's the lens:



And here it is on a GL690 camera :



Cheers!

Abbazz


Such a beauty! Nice to see you here again!


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Such a beauty! Nice to see you here again!

Thank you, Attila.

Here's a picture of the big Fuji G690 next to my vintage Asahiflex:



As you can see, that's a nasty camera!

Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Shocked BIG!
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