Brass Rack & Pinion lens marked John Vilt Portrait 13x18

[Spotmatic]

I appear to have bought a brass rack & pinion lens marked "John Vilt", "Portrait" and "13x18". This according to the seller who did not know what it was. I don't even know how large the lens is and unfortunately I did not store the photo before the seller deleted his advert... So it's on its way to me now.

I hope it's a Petzval-type lens. It has a slot for waterhouse stops and on both the front and rear end there are glass elements. The name "JOHN VILT" is engraved in capitals.

I'd guess this lens is from the 1880's or thereabouts. I have googled the name, but it is clear to me that it's a rebranded lens from one of the "mainstream" lens makers (like Darlot, Emil Busch, Hermagis). John Vilt appears to be a camera maker only, but I have found only one example so far: http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Vilt,John/Field-Camera.html

That's about it. I've found no other interesting/applicable information regarding John Vilt. Anyone knows more about this maker?

[Sevo]

In the 19th century, it was established practice for ateliers/camera shops to brand the lenses and cameras they sold, so a single camera and lens is barely a indication that the brand belongs to a maker at all.

It is much more likely that the lens is a Aplanat/Rapid Rectilinear type rather than a Petzval. Most photographic Petzvals data back to Daguerrotype/Ambrotype days when common plate sizes were much smaller than 13x18, and the later, more frequent projection Petzvals weren't made in (or labelled with) plate size dimensions. You will know when you get the lens - a 13x18 Aplanat would be a normal for 13x18cm, with around 25-28cm focal length, while a Petzval sold as a 13x18 coverage lens in pre Pictorialist days (these invented the "swirlies" by using ancient Petzvals with much wider coverage than previously considered acceptable) would be long indeed, in the 50-60cm range.

But if you want to find out more, register at http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ and ask there - that is where all the LF experts hang out.

[Spotmatic]

Indeed; I know that rebranding photographic items was very common back in the 19th century. What I hope is that I'll find out about the maker of the lens when I disassemble it to assess the optical scheme (I guess it's hard to determine from the outside if it is, for instance, an Aplanat instead of a Petzval lens). Some makers have marked the internal parts. But I guess it won't be this easy.

If all else fails I'll gladly register at LFP.

[Spotmatic]

What I forgot to add is that the lens is also marked with "Portrait". Of course this doesn't say anything as there were also Portrait-Aplanats. But from the (bad) photos the back element looked quite flat to me, I'm not sure if this tells us anything. And after some quick Googling I have hardly been able to find Aplanats/Rapid Rectilinears with a rack + pinion focusing system...

[Spotmatic]

Surprise! I found that Google had a copy of the advert in its cache, so I updated my first post with pictures of the lens...

[Spotmatic]

And I got it! It's indeed a Petzval lens as I have disassembled it a bit. The rear part is almost flat, a telltale sign that it's a Petzval. The first calculated lens design

A size comparison between my SMC Pentax-FA* 85mm F1.4 [IF] and the John Vilt:



And a very uninteresting shot (my wife is in the bokeh), made possible by using an helicoid extension tube with an Asahi Pentax Bellows Unit fully extended. I should mount it to my wooden field camera to see how that looks

[luisalegria]

No links !

Good luck there, the Petzval should be way more "pictorial" than a Rapid Rectilinear.
Eager to see how this works with your field camera.

I am trying to work out something similar for Graflex. " target="_blank">Click here to see on Ebay

[Spotmatic]

Thanks Luis! Actually I think my 4x5" field camera (no-name, probably made by the Japanese company Charten in the 1920's) is a little bit too flimsy. Of course, I can always try! It was already a great sight on the ground glass screen.

I'm not thinking to use film though... I really want to try the wet collodion plate process. A guy nearby gives hands-on training on that process. The "old" look is priceless. Coupled with the Petzval character the results should be very interesting!