Docter Optics and 210mm lens testing (v.early results)

christopher perez · February 14, 2006

I don't know where Kerry Thalman finds this stuff, but all he has to

do is show me an item or two and I'm hooked. I'm a financially poorer

man for it. But happier, I might add.

The most recent Madness revolves around Docter Optics lenses. I have

taken delivery of a 150 Germinar W f/9, 210 Tessar f/4.5, 240 Germinar

W f/9, and 300 APO Germinar f/9.

The 150 and 300mm lenses are brilliant. I just love 'um for their

resolution and contrast. In the process of doing a real world "test of

200mm-ish lenses, I found the 240 Germinar W to also be brilliant from

wide open all the way down, and the 210 Tessar to be shockingly good

starting around f/5.6.

I have started compiling a page of Docter Optic goodies at:

I believe Kerry still has a couple of the 150 and 300mm lenses, and

perhaps more than a few 240's. It might be worth looking him up. The

Germinar W lenses are what Schneider could or should have produced

with the GClaron series of lenses; the Germinars are multi-coated and

provide similar 80 degree coverage when stopped down to at least f/22.

And the APO Germinar is such a delight that I don't care that it's

only single coated.

Stay tuned for my 210mm "real world" Big Mash-Up test. Already there

are a few surprises (to me at least, this from inspecting the

negatives under a 10x loupe). I am feeling more confident than ever

that lens aperture shape strongly influences the "texture",

"rendition", and "smoothness" of out of focus areas. But more on that

after I have had a chance to spend a few hours in the darkroom

printing the results.

I thought y'all might like to know. There are some really great optics

out there. Just wait until you see what a $165US Schneider Xenar f/6.1

can do! :-)

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