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How to identify lenses


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Hello,

Sorry for my poor english, I am french !

I am not a vendor, nor a professional. Just somebody who likes lenses !

I have a collection of lenses formulas, and i have written a program to simulate

les images they supposed to give. But I have much difficulties to know what lens

design have in the commercial reality. I know some of them, like Protar, Planar

Celor or others great celebrity, but I have a lot of unknown. Can you help me ?

 

Here the adress of my home-page

 

http://dioptrique.info/

 

Thank you and with hope for a response !

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Hmm. Are you acquainted with the work of Brian Caldwell? He has a commercial lens design program whose database contains more than 10,000 designs, mainly taken from patent descriptions.

 

Are you acquainted with Emmanuel Bigler? You can find him through http://www.galerie-photo.info/forum/ .

 

Do you know A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, H. M. Linde's book The Photographic Lens (originally in German), A. Cox' book Photographic Optics, S. F. Ray's Applied Optical Design, ...

 

Many of the lenses whose cross sections are published on your interesting site are named in those books.

 

I've seen assertions that Boyer redesigned the tessar type Saphir (there are also 6/4 double Gauss type Saphirs, 6/4 plasmat type Saphir Saphir BX, heliar type Apo Saphirs, ... ) at the same time they began coating their lenses. This would have been in 1947-8. I see that your 1935 and 1947 f/4.5 Saphirs have very similar curves. Did you take the 1947 design from a coated lens?

 

Amicalement,

 

Dan

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Pour savoir plus de la construction des objectifs photographiques il ya un livre francais ancien formidable: "L'objectif photographique". Il donne des dessins des tas des objectifs et des descriptions courtes meme plus nombreuses.

 

Il y a aussi un bouquin allemand, "Das Auge meiner Kamera" (l'oeil de mon appareil). Il y a des editions jusqu'au 1960 env., donnant une description des objectifs allemands de cette epoque.

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OK, I just wanted to point the OP towards the french book "L'objectif photographique" (Photographic lenses) which shows cross-sections of many lenses and describes even more. There was a similar book in german, "Das Auge deiner Kamera" (Your camera's eye) showing cross-sections and performance diagrams of many - mostly german - lenses. I think the last edition was released in the early 60s.
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:) if someone can speak a second langue, that's already "showing off"? Funny.

 

Anyway, Sydney F. Ray has some more recent books about lenses and other things in photography. They are very well written with lots of images and drawings.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There is also a book called "Photo Technology Data Book". I think I got mine from Craig Camera. There are over 188 different lens cross sections and an extensive listing of manufacturers and model designations - and it's all 'old' stuff (pre 1970's). And that section does not have many words that need translating, and thus useful to all, no matter what their native language.

Mike

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Bonsoir à vous tous,

 

Well, i'll try to answer in English.

Prime, thank you for your reactivity and all your advices.

Next,

For Dan,

No, I am not acquainted with the work of Brian Caldwell (I discover his name in this Forum, sorry for my ignorance), nor with Emmanuel Bigler, (I know his Forum, but I think mostly oriented to images). No, I am simply an alone autodidact calculator, no more !

Dan, I don't know those two books. They seem to be untraceable in France.

Nevertheless I'll try to find them, but if somebody knows where to buy them, it would be very useful for me !

I don't dismount my lenses to measure them : I am not rich enough ! No, I find a lot of patents on specialised sites, and I have a great collection of lenses plans' copies of Boyer, because I knew very well the president-owner of the firm, and worked with hi for a while.

Are you Dan to whom I write for a some days on may mail ?

 

Winfried, je possède le livre d'Andreani qui m'aide énormément. Mais Andreani ne donne pas d'antériorités, et ne cite pas les sources de ses coupes, toutes exactes, ce qui est extraordinaire !

Pour votre livre en allemand, je ne suis malheureusement pas germanophone, et à moins qu'il ne contienne beaucoup d'images ou de nombres explicites, je risque de ne pas pouvoir m'en servir. Ceci étant, savez-vous où il serait possible d'en consulter un ? Ne serait-ce que pour savoir s'il peut m'être utile ?

Il y a aussi un livre de Merte, introuvable (ou hors de prix), que je cherche désespérément à un prix abordable, et la liste de toutes les formules de Zeiss, publiée à prix d'or par les américains après la guerre. Sans compter LensView, dont le coût le réserve à Rosthchild...

 

Stephen, sorry for my a parte with Winfried. I continue in my bad gibberish (pleonasm)...

I answer that I have the french book he is speaking about. I say him that I don't understand the most little word of german (even if I direct sometimes cantatas of Bach : don't betray me, I have a translation under the music :-)

So I am afraid his german book would not be very useful for me. I know also the electronic base LensView, but it is horribly expensive. And the others classical books about lens design are not accessible out of specialised and remote libraries...

 

Csab'józsa, what are those books ? Can you send me some precisions ?

 

Rachel, I have been on his site, but if he can manifestly repair virtually any thing taking a snapshot, I am not sure he can identify a lens just knowing its RND constants. But I will send him a mail some day, why not ? He seems to be very kind on his self-portrait, and I am also a collector of slide rules, I used for years in my studious youth.

 

Mike, that's exactly what I want ! Where can I find it, knowing I am living in deep french countryside ? And I am unfortunately not Cresus' nephew ?

 

Thank you all, for the time you spent for me, and see you soon perhaps at http://dioptrique.info, if you understand some words of Molière's language !

 

Amitiés

 

Eric:

 

PS: Somebody asked me on my mail to make an optical French-English lexicon to help everybody ( et peut-être même les français ! ;-) access to my work. Is there any body able to help me (in French, please !) in this attempt ?

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Bonsoir Daniel,

 

Nous allons nous faire gronder par le Webmaster !

 

J'ai transmis, and "she is very proud to have had an answer on such a forum by such a contributor" !

 

On an other way, I have find Mrs Uli Mayer, who seems to have this really unfoundable book of Willy Merté deliciously called :

Handbuch der wissenschaftlichen und angewandten Photographie

in german in the text...

Do you if it would be possible to ask her where and how dshe has found this Optical Lens Designe Bible. Thank you, and soon by mail.

 

Eric

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