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!

A lens I never expected to own!  The Nicola Perscheid was made by Busch Rathenow to Mr. Perscheid's specifications for portraiture.  It is the same formula, modified Rapid Rectilinear, as The Pinkham Smith Series IV and the Hermagis Eidoscop.  Prices have been notoriously high because Europe recognizes them as a notable classic over our American lenses.

Last week a 42cm became available and the seller was anxious to work with me because he was worried about a tiny couple of spots of fungus on one of the inner surfaces.  He offered an attractive price and a 2 day money back guarantee.  When I got it I knew immediately it would be a keeper.  The fungus had not attacked the glass and it soaked right off.  42cm is a nice size.  It's at home both on the 11X14 and the 8X10!  These first 2 contact prints I'll share are from the 11X14 camera.  The lamp shot was at f5.6 and the shoes at f4.5

the lamp

tired shoes

Comments always welcome.  These are just a surface scratch as most of these test shots are.  The lens has so many more possibilities.  I'm anxious to get a human in front of this and the Pinkham Series 1 lenses both.

I'm still housebound, so to while away the time I aim the camera at whatever is there. The best ones so far are from the ol' Voigtlander brass cannon. I managed to mount this on a Cambo 6x6 board. Shutter is whatever I can hold in front and move fast enough. Film is Ekfe 25 4x5 in D76. The plant is an Amyrillis I got from a buddy, and the castor set I got from Mom. There're all soft but very understated. All shot at about f/6 or so, which is wide open for this lens.

Firts off, I'm down to maybe 10-15 sheets left of my old Polaroid 804 film, these sheets are at least 10yrs old and probably older since the date on the box this film came from has long since faded.  I'm so amazed that the old Polaroid film came through for this shot.   I'm probably done w/Polaroid 804 when I run out of what I have left since boxes of this film are going for an insane price of $300-$500 a box.   I've done a lot of crazy things in my life, but buying film in excess of $30.00 a sheet isn't going to be one of 'em.

This is called 'Ring' for obvious reasons,  this thing started out life as a candle holder which I thought was novel.   I love the curios/'doo dads'/nic nacs/novelties and all of the out of the way stuff I get from Michaels art store and some of the discount stores that come cheap at bet. 99cents and $2.00.

Could someone with a P&S and an Imagon (probably Jim) post a side by side comparison? Imagon is single meniscus, and I believe one of the P&S varieties is single meniscus as well. Flowers in a vase would be a good subject as there are many focus areas and halo opportunities.