[rollei_list] Re: Press Cameras
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:57:25 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob James" <starboy0@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 5:35 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Press Cameras
Hello Don,
When I was a kid watching Superman on TV I remember Jimmy
Olson with his press camera. I thought it would be so cool
to have a camera like that! Even today the idea of that
large negative size entices me, especially with the advances
of today's film.
Anyone shot Tri-X in a press camera lately? Also I'm
wondering how good were the lenses in those press cameras?
Bob
Depends on the lens. Folmer&Schwing, which later became
Graflex, offered various standard lenses in their cameras.
Before WW-2 most of the cameras came with f/4.5 Tessars of
very good quality. After the US entered the war Zeiss lenses
were no longer available and were replaced by Kodak Ektars.
The Ektar is an outstanding lens. After the war Graflex
contracted with Wollensak to supply lenses. These were
called Optars but were identical to the Wollensak Raptar.
All of the Raptars I've ever seen had a problem. Not sure
exactly what it is but they never get quite sharp in the
margins even at the smallest stops. They are sharp in the
center of the field and seem relatively free of residual
spherical aberration, which is important for a lens on a
rangefinder camera, but they are inferior to either the
Tessar or Ektar. Wollensak made excellent shutters however.
One advantage the Wollensake shutter had over the Compur and
Kodak shutters was constant trigger pull at all speeds. The
Compur and Kodak have a booster spring for the highest speed
so that the trip lever becomes rather stiff. No problem for
tripping by hand but will prevent a flash solenoid from
working properly. Curiously enough the f/5.6 Optar for the
4x5 Super-D Graflex is an excellent lens, evidently a
different design from the f/4.5 and f/4.7 lenses used on the
Graphics. Graflex also used Schneider Xenar lenses on a few
cameras. Mostly the Crown Graphic Deluxe. I have seen only
a few of these but the performance does not seem up to the
Xenars used on Rollei cameras. They seem to have a similar
problem to the Wollensak lens.
One occasionally finds a Graphic with a Bausch & Lomb
lens, mostly Tessars. I think these were on a par with the
Zeiss version. Other lenses are sometimes found but not
often.
Very late Graphics had lenses made by Rodenstock under
the Optar name. I have never had one to test but suspect
they are the same as the standard Rodenstock lenses and
probably of good quality.
In general, Graflex built high quality cameras for
professional use and used mostly excellent lenses on them.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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