[LargeFormat] cult lenses

[Peter De Smidt]

>
> >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!
> >
> >Dan Kalish
> >Flushing, New York, New York, USA
> >

If you look at the modern plasmats above 210mm, you find that they're
huge and very expensive, as they are mainly used by very well-healed
commercial studios.   Many amateur/artistic photographs however: a.
don't have that much money, b. want smaller lenses for field use, c.
want maximum coverage.  If we add that these lenses were used by many
of the photographic greats, probably for reasons just mentioned, the
lenses start to take on a mythic quality.

I've used wide field ektars, dagors, and protars.  They are usually
very good lenses, but I prefer modern lenses in modern shutters,
especially for wide angle lenses, as long as they have enough
coverage.  Remember that having a barrel lens professionally mounted
is a very expensive proposition, especially if you have to buy a new
shutter.  Old lenses come in old shutters that usually need to be
professionally serviced at around 75 dollars a time.  Moreover, even
when clean they usually are not as accurate as copal shutters, and the
older shutters need to be cleaned more often.  In many cases you can
find good deals on current (or close to current) lenses at places like
robert white or badger graphic sales.

In the focal lengths longer than 600mm, though, there often isn't any
choice. Older process lenses might be the only ones available.

-Peter De Smidt