[LargeFormat] Bad Kodak Lens

[Richard Knoppow]

  After having touted Kodak lenses for some years I've
finally encountered a bad one. This is a 101mm, f/4.5 lens
for a Miniature Speed Graphic. The particular lens was built
in 1941. The problem is excessive spherical aberration. This
results in enough focus shift to prevent setting up the lens
with a rangefinder. In fact, it was repeated rangefinder
errors that tipped me off to what was happening. Other Kodak
Ektars I have are all very sharp and have virtually no
spherical. I've checked this lens for tightness, etc., and
it seems fine.  I bought this lens some time ago to
refurbish a Miniature Speed Graphic I was given by a friend.
The original lens, a Wollensak Optar, was pitted, probably
from moisture in storage. The pitting is quite deep and
results in scattering and haze. However, the image is still
good enough to get some idea of the original performance.
Surprize! It must have been excellent. The lens shows no
sigh of softness when wide open (except from the pitting)
and has no detectible focus shift. This has caused me to
re-evaluate my opinions of both Wollensak and Kodak. I have
other Wollensak lenses which are excellent performers but
have encountered some real dogs. This Kodak lens is the
first Kodak dog I've seen.
  I've seen reference to some Kodak lenses having shims in
them. I've never seen one but its possible. The excess
spherical in this lens _could_ be caused by improper element
spacing. However, the lens was hazy when I got it and there
was no sign that it had ever been opened. Maybe not.
  In any case, I will be on the look out for another lens
for this camera and will consider Optars as well as Ektars
this time. I will also play around this this lens to see if
I can improve its performance. My other Kodak Ektars,
including a 127mm of the same age, are outstanding lenses,
so this guy is a bit puzzling, especially as it is in a
Kodak shutter marked Graphic so it must have been on a mini
Speed Graphic originally and gone through the Graflex plant.
   I had an interesting adventure restoring this camera,
which was in awful condition. I will post some more later on
repairing Kalart rangefinders and some things I found out
about this camera.

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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com