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My son 'JB'-190mm Wollensak Raptor-Fujifilm FP-100c45
There are several vignettes behind this shot of my son JB and his beloved skateboard at the park. I was shopping around for an Alphax#3 shutter so I could shoot strobes w/a 10 1/2 inch Turner Reich#4 that Jim Galli is tweaking for me, and bid on an Alphax#3-190mm Wolly Raptor which came up for auction on ebay. I was really only after the shutter, but got both the Alphax and Raptor lens for $97.00. Why it went for that low a price might've been because the pic of the lens didn't look all that hot. Anyway, both the lens and shutter were in great shape when I got in hand.
Getting the lens-shutter Friday, meant a shakedown test Saturday to see what I had w/both this lens and shutter, and I did it with Fujifilm's instant 4x5 packfilm, FP-100C45. Fujifilm FP-100C45 in terms of sharpness, is leaps and bounds ahead of Polaroid's color films, and I've purchased plenty of this film to experiment with, although from my initial experience with this film, it can certainly can be used as the final medium for a project, it's that good a film.
I loved Steve Nichols b&w shots with his 162mm Raptor that he's unloaded here on WideOpen, and from playing around with mine, I can see why this is such a great lens, particularly at wideopen, with it's 'sweet', 'full bodied' roundness. Nothing harsh about this lens, it's easy on the eye.
I shot JB wide open at F4.5, using a neutral density filter to knock down the intense outside illumination 3 stops to keep from having to stop down.
I still can believe that I paid approx. $50.00 each for both this shutter and lens, and I've become more and more entrenched now in looking at life through the classic lens.
Jonathan Brewer
in Color, Fuji FP10045, Jonathan Brewer, Wollensak Raptor
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4 Comments
Reader Comments (4)
Hi Jonathon,
My view on life - photographically - has changed dramatically since getting some of the older classic lenses. I can only warn you :), this is just the beginning. For me shipping old glass internationally can drive the price higher than I would like but I have a nice set of lenses now for not much more than a modern lens/shutter combo.
Interestingly your image has a '60's feel to me.
I'm still after a 14" Ektar if anyone can help me?
Steve
Hey Steve!!!
You've got a keen eye............I took this shot on the playground where JB goes to school which was built in the 1950's..........it's open on the weekends as a neighborhood park.
You're in Austrailia correct?....Is it very hard getting these type lenses there??? A shame if it is...this lens which I bought to get to the shutter, turned out to be $50.00. The cache of price means nothing to me anymore, specs and modulation transfer functions, don't mean anything to me anymore, it's the 'personality' of this type of glass which never fails to satisfy me.
Strange you would mention the Ektar, I got that lens the same way I this one, it's the only sharp lens(by other folks definition) I have. I bid on the 14 Commercial Ektar to get to the #5 Universal shutter that was being auctioned w/it
What bodes well for you is that the price for the Commercial Ektar and #5 Universal shutter is almost the same as it is for the shutter alone. The Commercial Ektar usually comes in this shutter. Good luck on getting a 14 inch.
Take care
Hi Jonathan,
Yes I'm in Australia so the cost of shipping does add to the price of a lens but I have been able to acquire a few classics over the past. The Alphax shutter is probably my favourite as it is so simple to repair. Most of the shutters I have are either Alphax or Ilex and both are fairly straight forward with no special tools needed for repairs. I had never attempted a shutter repair but a non working 162mm Wolly in an Alphax arrived so I approached it slowly and methodically and now that shutter is right for another 50 :) years. A friend gave me a shutter that wasn't working [Ilex #3] 30 minutes later not only was it working but it also now houses new to me RR elements from a 1910 broken shutter. I used the principles found on this site to learn some of what is in a shutter.
http://pheugo.com/cameras/alphax/alphax.html
Steve
Great site, great info....I just ck'd it out, thanks Steve. Even though there'll probably always be folks around to fix these, it can hurt for a photographer to learn from a site like this.
Take care