[LargeFormat] Rapax shutter CLA

[Clive Warren]

At 19:38 26/02/01 -0600, Lee Carmichael wrote:


>-----Original Message-----
>From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net]On
>Behalf Of Clive Warren
>Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 7:29 PM
>
>
>Have been putting together a light weight field outfit based on a 4x5
>Korona and a selection of older glass in shutters.  I was intending
snip
>There's something quite special about the look and feel of images
>made from older glass. Multicoating and high contrast is all very
>well but Spring is good for the more natural rendition offered by
>older glass.
>
>With all this chat about pinholes maybe no glass is the way forwards :-)
snip

>Clive,
>         Put me squarely in the modern glass catagory.  For me the whole 
> point is to
>make the image a sharp as possible.  Anything less is a waste of time.  I
>labored for years with junk lenses and my images suffered because of it.
>You might say that Ansel and compatriots used the old glass, true.  But that
>is all they had. They went to the newer glass as soon as it became
>available.  I may be wrong about this but didn't Margaret Bourke-White
>lement in some of her writings about the poor quality of the lenses?  We now
>have the best there is, I say use them.
>
>Lee Carmichael
>mailto:click76112@home.com


Well modern glass is of course wonderful and gives in your face high 
contrast images - which is maybe not what you want.  Old glass can still 
give excellent resolution and even a lack of coating is fine as long as you 
keep the sun out of your shots.  The feel of the shots is entirely different.

If your shooting style and preferences demand a modern lens look and feel 
then that is what should be used.  Some older lens do in fact rival the 
modern glass anyway, Kodak lenses spring to mind.......

One of my favourite lenses is still the Ektar 203mm f7.7 - it takes a lot 
of beating and has for me just the right levels of contrast for landscape 
work and is a cracker in terms of resolution.  It is 55 years old and ready 
for another 55 years of work - I prefer it to the 150mm Sironar N which 
also sits in the kit bag.....

So  there is probably still a place for older glass - perhaps your earlier 
experiences were due to a couple of duff lenses?

The only advantage associated with modern glass for me is the accompanying 
shutter which invariably is a Copal and is accurate and consistent.   Now a 
203mm Ektar in a Copal .. hmmmm...... :-)

All the best,
                 Clive   http://www.f32.net
                         Large Format Travel and Stock Photography