[rollei_list] Re: Retina Camera Lenses
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:29:24 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc James Small" <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 9:41 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Retina Camera Lenses
At 12:19 AM 10/25/2009, Richard Knoppow wrote:
> I don't know how to determine this other than
>disassembling a sample of each and measuring the
curvatures,
>etc. Unless one has access to the prescription there is no
>way to know if very similar lenses are actually the exact
>same design. I do know that some Ektar lenses were made
for
>the Retina but I don't know the dates. Most Retina lenses
>were made by Schneider but, of course, both cameras and
>lenses would have been unavailable during WW-2 and for a
>time afterward.
Richard
The record is a bit cloudier, and attention is
directed to Dr David Jentz for some
clarification. Prewar Retinas had a mix of
lenses but, in very broad terms, those sold in
the US had Kodak lenses and those sold elsewhere
had either JSK or CZJ lenses. During the War,
Retina production was suspended but when Dr Nagel
resumed Retina production after the War, the
general rule was to have US marketed Retinas
equipped with Kodak lenses and those sold
elsewhere to have JSK lenses, Zeiss lenses then
being unobtainable. By the 1950's, after Kodak
began to drop out of lens production, US-market
Retinas tended to have JSK lenses, and those sold
elsewhere to have Rodenstock lenses. But there
are exceptions throughout the life of the breed.
I own some Retinas and like the breed. The epic
shot of Tenzin Norgay on the peak of Everest --
"we knocked the bastard off!" -- was shot on a
Prewar 118 Retina with a 3.5/5cm CZJ Tessar by
Hillary, on Kodachrome, of course. That camera is now in a
museum in EnZed.
Marc
I looked over the lens sections of several editions of
the _Kodak Reference Handbook_. I could not find any Ektar
lenses for the Retina but they may be the wrong dates. There
are two Schneider lenses listed, one a Xenon for the Retina
II and the other a much more complex lens for the Retina
III. I have the second edition and later of the Handbook but
not the first edition, which was, I think, a war-time
edition.
I am puzzled about when Kodak would have had to use
Ektars in the Retina. Since the camera itself was not
available during the war the lens source would have made no
difference. There may have been a period right after the war
when Schneider could not supply lenses but that also does
not make sense since they were able to supply lenses to F&H
when Zeiss could not. Schneider was in the Western Zone and
would not have been affected by the convoluted politics
confronting Zeiss.
I do remember seeing Ektar lenses for the Retina but am
at a loss to know when. Its also possible that they were
Kodak branded Schneider lenses in the same way that many
Kodak folders have "Kodak-Zeiss" lenses. I don't know if the
latter were made by Zeiss or Kodak under license although I
suspect the latter.
FWIW, there is a good presentation of optical glass and
lens making on the Canon site, http://www.canon.com You
need a really high speed connection for this.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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