When it's sweet, it's sweet.  This is about an 8 1/2" focal lens.  Wide open, as soon as I saw the ground glass I was hooked.  6 shots yesterday and 6 today.  I'll create a page at my website of images with this lens.  It seems to have the perfect blend.   Like butter.  It's found a home on the 5X7 Speed Graphic.

I haven't uploaded anything for a while.  I've been busy souping negs from a road trip through Oregon.  Here is an unusual one.

This was done with the Pinkham Semi Achromat 12" lens at f8.  A little different.

I've had a little Waterbury Meniscus lens from the 1880's laying in a drawer for a few years.  Waterbury was a cheap camera for the masses made by Scovill.  They're usually 5X8 inch.  The lens is a single achromatic doublet at the end of a brass tube.  It is about 10" focus which is what you'd expect with a cheap 5X8 camera.  The one I have had a disc that throttled it back to about f12, the place where the mfr felt it was sharp enough to be respectable.  I used it several years ago for this page.  This weekend I got tired of trying to figure out how to use it unstopped where it would be soft.  So I did the bad bad thing and put a 1 1/4 inch socket down the throat and smacked it with a hammer.  No more disc.  Now it's an f6 Waterbury and ready for action.  As usual I was pleasantly surprised.  It is far sharper even wide open than I would have expected.  Here are 3 shots on 5X7.  I think it has a fine look to it!

The Edsel had shown up in a friends driveway and proved to be a fine test.  Can't afford a Pinkham, the little Waterbury's go cheap.  No Pinkham but still a nice old lens with some hoootzpah.

....to have enough knowledge NOT to buy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400035967946&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123

This a Bausch & Lomb product.  It may have been sold at Pinkham & Smith, the establishment just as they were sold by Sears, Monkey Wards, and a host of other photo retailers 100 years ago but it is not a Pinkham Smith built lens.  It is a decent ordinary Petzval if you fell like owning one that says Pinkham & Smith. 

I'll bet a Hamburger and Beer that it goes over $2200.  It's a $300 lens.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

At least you guys will know.  I don't plan to post this at LFForum.

Sean Connery stopped by the studio earlier this afternoon.  He heard I had a 'Smith' lens.