Mystery Lens
Deardorff 4X5 Special
Who knew. I bought a brass pile of junk a couple of years ago to get the size 4 brass Studio Shutter. It was a weird mess. Layed out like a petzval but obviously missing parts and mis-matched. Today I thought to remove the rear group and put the front doublet in the back like a landscape meniscus. Good call. It now focuses at 13" f4 and has a wonderful look on the glass. Very soft wide open but this was stopped down to about f11. I have no idea what it is / was!
Reader Comments (3)
Beautiful..............both what the lens does, and the camera!!! Stopped down @F11!!!??? I wonder what kind of mojo starts to vibrate @ @F4!!!
Thanks J. I'm sure we shall see. This one might be fun to do some retro architectural things with. Perhaps I'll bring it with me to Los Angeles. It renders lines wonderfully.
I have friends who rave about their 6 element wonder plasmats -- I just smile. We are very fortunate that lensmakers of the past enjoyed "errors"
Steve