wollensak 50/1.5

[chris_burck1]

hello to all. i'm new to posting here, though have

browsed pn quite a bit and enjoyed it immensely. i

tried googling this and came tp empty. does anyone

have any info about this lens, such as intended

format and application, optical formula (i'm

guessing sonnar or planar type), etc? there was

one listed on evilbay that i was reluctant to bid

on it w/o any info (saw it only a couple hours

before it ended: item 200165662580), especially

with the somewhat unusual-looking shutter housing.

any info appreciated.

[alex_lofquist]

Sounds fishy to me. What sort of mount did it have? Perhaps it was for a 16mm movie camera?

[chris_burck1]

no, it was mounted in a wollensak shutter (rapax, iirc), but it had a bit of an odd look, like maybe it was a custom mount or specific to a particular camera. if it was a custom job it was very well done, because it had a definite "factory look." you'll see what i mean if you look up the auction number i posted.

[chris_burck1]

here's a couple pics from the listing:

[chris_burck1]

hmm, i guess i can only upload one at a time...:

[chris_burck1]

another:

[patrick j dempsey]

I dont wonder if this is some kind of lens for specialized scientific research. Im pretty sure that an f/1.5 50mm Anastigmat would not have very good coverage and probably not be good for anything more than 16mm movie format. (I wonder if this is not really a triplet badged as an Anastigmat in the way that Kodak used to do, because of Zeiss's copyright on the Anastigmat name)

 

It appears to be a lens designed for this style shutter and the shutter and lens are both made by Wollensak, which suggests that it is a factory lens. It is curious that the lens specs are those of a cine lens while the shutter is obviously of the type used for still photography. The plastic cap on the rear is hiding whatever mount is on it, but more than likely its just a screw mount like those used for large format and folding camera shutters.

 

There is a strange ring around the shutter which seems to be cocking the shutter and firing it with the same motion. So whatever camera it was on had some kind of provision to use that ring... which appears to be what the screws attach to.

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

I have severe doubts that Zeiss had the copyright for "Anastigmat". There are quite a few pre-war lenses with an anastigmat designator from other manufacturers.

 

Many anastigmats are plain triplet lenses but I think it will be very, very hard (if not impossible) to push a triplet to f/1.5 at 50mm. This would not be easy even with a Tessar design lens.

[Dustin McAmera]

Might it be intended for recording oscilloscope traces?</br>

This is a different lens, but there's this guy on Flickr using a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/panjp/492752898/in/set-72157600108602804/">Wollensak Cine-Raptar 50/1.5 on a modern Bessa</a>. I like his China pictures; a little vignetting in some of them.

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

The guy on flickr says that he bought the Raptar already fitted with LTM mount but I have severe doubt that it was made like this.

 

The focussing mount looks as if coming from an Industar lens. There are some certain sellers on ebay selling powerful cine lenses (mostly made by Kinoptik) converted to LTM mount. I have severe doubts whether field coverage of these lenses (of which some are marked "cine special") will be sufficient. They may work with sufficient sharpness when stopped down but I don't think the buyers will be very happy using these lenses wide open.

 

The Wollensak in question here seems to be a different case. Since the leaf shutter is mounted between the lens elements the barrel clearly was designed for such a purpose. From time to time quite powerful Steinheil lenses for oscillographic purpose appear on ebay. These lenses usually are fully corrected for one wavelength only (the fluorescent color of the scope screen), are NOT achromatic and cannot be used for normal photography.