[LargeFormat] cult lenses

[Joseph O'Neil]

At 11:41 6/2/03 -0400, you wrote:
>What are Dagor, Cooke, Dallmeyer, Goerz, Dallmeyer, and Wollensak lenses and
>why are they held in such reverence?  I was checking out Dagor77's auctions.
>What a character!

         Personally I dunno.  I used to have a 135mm, wide Field Ektar - 
the "classic" everyoen raves about.  It was a very nice lens to be sure, 
and when I bought it many moons ago, modestly priced.  Today,t heya re 
quite pricey, IMO>

         I later sold it, and bought a brand new Rodenstock Sironar -N, 
135mm.  IMO, having used both, the new Rodenstock is the superior lens.

         Some old lenses are wonderful.  I currently use an old 8.25 inch , 
F9 red Dot Goerz APO Artar.  Very nice lens.   Very sharp.  I picked it up 
dirt cheap form a local darkroom clossing up and dismantling thier process 
camera.
         But it is very dark to focus at F9,  and the price of ones on Ebay 
is outrageous, IMO.  Again, for the extra money, go buy a brand new 
Rodenstock or Schneider 210mm.

         My personal speculation on how these "cult lenses' got thier 
reputations is guys liek me woudl find an old process camera being trashed 
and junked, go in, grab the lens dirt cheap, try it out,a nd then report 
"wow, this thing is great" .  And a lot of these old lenes are/were.

         You  might get some good deals off ebay, but first you ahve to 
worry about the condition of ht lens - I ahve seen some real dogs at camera 
shows going for a pretty penny.  then, with any used lens, you either have 
to pay to have it mounted in a shutter, or have the shutter sent off for 
cleaning & recalibration.

         So go to Calumet, look up the price of a brand new 210mm comapred 
to any used 210mm on Ebay, factor in the above conditions, and maybe some 
fo these old classics aren't always the deal they first appear to be.
joe




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