[LargeFormat] NEW SEPT Theme "Your rarest lens" (s)

Sat Sep 24 22:12:01 EDT 2005

Yes, I think it's a KE-12(1)  (correct me if I'm wrong) and the set is  
a KS-4 (Halliburton case, tripod,holders and a black Graflite flash)   
and the back had it's own number to like LE-9.It's the closest think to  
a custom ordered military Speed Graphic they got.  The body doesn't  
have the body release and the back is a Graflok back without the  
sliders.  I have to wonder if Uncle Sam wanted a spring back and  
Graflex couldn't deliver so they stripped down the Graflok as much as  
possible.

On Sep 24, 2005, at 9:02 PM, Bob Blakely wrote:

> I have a Military Speed Graphic KH-12 (mint condition - meaning MINT).  
> Somewhat rare like, but mostly rare due to excellent condition. This  
> one possesses, by design, only part of the graflex back features. I'll  
> add links to photos when I get back from a business trip.
>
> Regards,
> Bob...
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -----------------------------
> By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy;
> if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
> - Socrates
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Les Newcomer" <LNPhoto at twmi.rr.com>
> To: "f32" <largeformat at f32.net>
> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:28 PM
> Subject: [LargeFormat] NEW SEPT Theme "Your rarest lens" (s)
>
>
>> While I was on a roll, I sent this one two.
>>
>> My entry in this month's sub-theme is  a set of rare lenses
>> http://home.twmi.rr.com/lnphoto/lensgrpweb.jpg
>>
>> The telephotos showed up on ebay first. They were indeed interesting  
>> as I thought that Kodak might be trying out new lenses for the  
>> Miniature Speed Graphic. The focal lengths were odd and the serial  
>> numbers  intrigued me.
>>
>> I wrote to Todd Gustavson at George Eastman House about the serial  
>> number, and while he didn't say anything concrete about them he did  
>> mention this camera:
>>
>> http://www.geh.org/fm/toronto/htmlsrc/mE13000625_ful.html#topoftext
>>
>> Essentially, the Teknar was supposed to compete with the Linhoff  and  
>> other high end press cameras, but before it could get off the ground  
>> Kodak shifted paradigms and bowed out of the pro photography market.   
>> At least one other Teknar was made in Germany and bares  a slight  
>> resemblance to this camera. I suspect they realized they couldn't  
>> compete with cheap German labor after the war, so they tried to farm  
>> this project overseas before they killed it completely.
>>
>> In an email he noted that the camera was engraved for the following  
>> lenses:
>>  80mm f/6.3,
>> 110mm f/4.5,
>> 110mm f/2.7,
>> 143mm f/4.5,
>> 195mm f/5.6,
>>  255mm f/5.6
>>  338mm f/5.6.
>>
>> Okay so now I knew what I had and if I had any doubt, it was erased  
>> when the 110mm f2.7 showed up the next week (the lens at 6 o'clock in  
>> the photo).  Now this lens doesn't really play by the all of the  
>> rules. The two tele's are coated (one blue one straw-gold) both are  
>> made in 1945 when the Teknar supposedly was in  R&D.  While the 110  
>> has the right focal length, speed, lensboard and even shutter, is  
>> uncoated and made in 1940.
>>
>> Could the Teknar project been started that much earlier but delayed  
>> because of the war?  Could this lens been part of something else and  
>> got drafted into the Teknar project like so many High School grads in  
>> the same year?   I don't know and any paper work that might tell has  
>> yet to surface.
>>
>> The 195mm lens was the last from the same seller, it wasn't complete,  
>> I had to fight off several well heeled japanese collectors to get the  
>> teles so I didn't bid on the 195 and it went  cheap.
>>
>> The 143mm lens came from Jay Tepper who found it at the same swap I  
>> was at and missed it.  He tried to sell it on ebay and I bought it  
>> from him after two failed ebay tries.
>>
>> The prototype 80mm WF Ektar probably wasn't part of the Teknar  
>> program by the time this one was made, but I include it here because  
>> the 80  did come out of the project.  This lens is a year later and  
>> has the notation of "first single piece front mount"  I suspect this  
>> was the beginning of the "rolled edge" method of securing the glass  
>> to the mount. A very cheap and innovative method of manufacture it  
>> just doesn't leave any chance for repairing the lens or cleaning the  
>> air space later.
>>
>> So out of 7 potential lenses I have 5, one is half its former self,  
>> and the other  is a slower duplicate of the one I have.
>>
>> One of these days I'd like to see the lenses and the camera united,  
>> but so far neither Todd nor I are budging.
>>
>> Les
>>
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