[LargeFormat] Double Protar Lens

[Clive Warren]

At 5:08 pm -0400 1/9/03, LNphoto wrote:
>On Sunday, August 31, 2003, at 01:19  PM, Clive Warren wrote:
>
>>Have just picked up a Bausch and Lomb Series VII Protar for a 5x7 
>>camera that appears to be a double convertible rather than a 
>>triple. Without looking at the books, I thought they were all 
>>triple convertibles. Does anyone have one or used one?
>>
>>Cheers,
>>            Clive
>>
>>
>>
>If you bought to cells of different focal lengths you gained a third 
>focal length at the cost of speed as most combined were either f 7.0 
>or 7.7.   If you combined two of the same lenght your combined focal 
>length was f6.3....modestly fast for those days.

Thanks for all the replies.

It seems that my confusion lay in the fact that the lens is in a 
shutter with two aperture scales. I do not have the beast yet, but it 
seems to be a single 11" approx. Series VII - ie half a double 
Protar, probably placed in the shutter some time after its 1895 
manufacture. More than likely it is f12.5

I have a Ross Double Protar that is a 10" f7 with 16 1/2" and 19 3/4" 
cells at f12.5. It's engraved with a flowing script: "Zeiss 
Convertible Anastigmat". Cleaned it up a couple of months ago and 
when the new multi-lens board with Packard is set up will shoot some 
film with it. It does seem as though it'll fit front mounted on a 
Betax #5 shutter so I may get around to making a sleeve up for 
it..... In any case, the new Bausch and Lomb lens may be a direct fit 
in the Ross barrel so there could be a few more focal lengths 
available.

Many of these older lenses have the patina of use - from the wear of 
the brass lens barrel, the Ross looks as though it was lovingly used 
for many decades, possibly from an old pro. studio locally. If we 
could only see some of the photos made with it.....

Cheers,
        Clive