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

[Bob Blakely]

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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