Help Identifying Old Camera Equipment

[Markf98]

I've recently acquired some old photography equipment and would like to know what I have and what it's worth any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

These lenses were designed for plate or sheet-film cameras that shot pretty large images, in the 4x5 inch to probably 5x7 inch range, more or less. Here's a verbal listing from what I can see from your photos:

Top lens is a Voigtlander 24 cm (240mm) f/4.5, in the Heliar design, in barrel, apparently no shutter, followed by a Carl Zeiss Jena 21cm (210mm) f/4.5 Tessar; following that is mother Zeiss--note the specification engraving data listed in millimeters and not in centimeters,usually indicative of later manufacture; the last is the black-finished Carl Zeiss Jena 15cm (150mm) f/4.5 Tessar, which looks like it might have a simple shutter, and it's on some type of small lensboard. Ther LAST lens is a Hugo Meyer & Company-Goerlitz 21cm (210mm) f/5.5 Goerlitz , and the model is probably referred to as the Doppel, or Doppel Anastigmat.

The brass lenses would be what I call "in barrel", meaning they are just a lens and diaphragm, in the barrel, and do not have a shutter mechanism added to them, and they are not on a lens mounting board. In barrel and "in shutter" are the common old terms for view and plate camera lenses, to describe to buyers what they are buying--is it JUST a lens and its iris diaphragm, OR does it have a shutter? Or, last, is it a lens, with a shutter mechanism, and attached to a lens board for a particular brand or style of camera?

I would most definitely NOT clean these. Do NOT polish the barrels. Leave them as they are. Use the verbals I gave you to do web or e-Bay searches. Be aware that the lens aperture was usually listed first, before the focal length, in the old days of European lens-making, and is STILL used today by Zeiss, as in 1 : 4.5/ 21 cm; many people swap those to the focal length first, like 21cm f/4.5. Note the old way used a 1, a color, then the aperture number, so...searching one way or the other might be better. Note that I used the modern f/ and lens nomenclature. This might easily be the difference between getting search hits or search misses.

 

[Derrel]

NOTE: on my first look for the lens I thought might be a keeper, I hit this, for sale as a B-grade lens with case, in barrel, for 399 Euro... The Dr. Rudolph Meyer Borlitz DOppel Plasmat is the lens I thought might be the sleeper...
Dr. Rudolph Meyer Gorlitz 5.5/15cm and 11/26cm Doppel-Plasmat brass l

Now the deal with this is the fact that this is a so-called convertible lens, a Doppel-Plasmat which was somewhat common: it's actually TWO possible lens lengths...I am guessing that with the rear lens element unscrewed, the focal length becomes MUCH longer... at 26 centimeters, with an effective f/11 aperture.

Plasmatlinse 11/26cm and 5.5/15cm

I have not searched for any of the other lenses...keep in mind a For Sale price is not a confirmed sale...the right buyer will often pay dearly for an item he wants...a collector with a massive collection usually wants "condition", or "original package, or accessories"

 

[Markf98]

I found some more things. Thanks so mich for the help guys.

 

[Derrel]

Some more good stuff! Leica Visoflex housing is a neat item. Some of the larger lenses might have some collectible appeal. The expression "Pulling out all the stops," is (allegedly) said to be from the Waterhouse stop system used in the lens you posted in this image. Waterhouse developed a system in which plates with different-sized holes in them were inserted into the lens at the rear, through a slot...higher numbers, like 32 and 64 had small-diameter holes in the inserts which were called "stops". You can see that this particular stop is the stop to be used in order to close the lens down for a shot that would be exposed at f/32.

Looks like you have a Xerography lens. Wondering if the brass, flat one is a rear-element group--maybe for the Doppel Plasmat????

 

[Markf98]

And I found yet another thing

 

[xenskhe]

Mark, it all looks interesting, offerable, desirable probably to varying degrees. Any background on where it's coming out of?
Other than the Visoflex bits, assume it's large format or darkroom gear. I'm unfamiliar with Goerz (with Robertson), that lens reminds me a bit of an old APO process lens.

On a 30 day auction ending on a weekend, I would guess the market should find the price for you.

 

[Markf98]

Mark, it all looks interesting, offerable, desirable probably to varying degrees. Any background on where it's coming out of?
Other than the Visoflex bits, assume it's large format or darkroom gear. I'm unfamiliar with Goerz (with Robertson), that lens reminds me a bit of an old APO process lens.

On a 30 day auction ending on a weekend, I would guess the market should find the price for you.

My uncles friends's father passed he was into optics and watchmaking.
Also excuse my ignorance but what is a visoflex? I know next to nothing about all of this. Any help I greatly appreciate. Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

Also excuse my ignorance but what is a visoflex? I know next to nothing about all of this. Any help I greatly appreciate. Thanks.

This will help Let me google that for you