Any info on lens: Wollensak 6 1/4" (159mm) f/12.5 - Anastigmat Extreme W.A.

[catherine_constantinou]

Hi Camera Folk - can anyone give me any information or let me know where I can

find some on a Alpha Wollensak Rochester USA - Wollensak 6 1/4" (159mm)

f/12.5 - Anastigmat Extreme W.A. No A26481 with silver cap mauve felt lined lens?

 

Also, any ideas of value would be helpful?

 

Thank you.

 

Catherine<div></div>

[chauncey_walden]

A good small lens that covers 8x10. I think I paid less than $150 for mine.

[vick_vickery]

I used one of these for my normal lens on a Graphic View II many years ago. It was VERY sharp on the 4x5 since I was using mostly the center of the field of view and gave me movements out the gazoo! The lens was somewhat dim, but I never found that to be a big problem outdoors in full daylight or inside with floods; indoors with little lighting was a problem until I learned to put a small flashlight at my optimum focus point and focus on the light pointing back toward the camera. I paid a whopping $50.00 for mine BRAND NEW in about 1975 from an ad in one of the camera magazines. It was in a synced Alphex press shutter.

 

these lenses sell for relatively low prices on eBay, often under $100, when in unsynced shutters; I would expect a few dollars more for a synced shutter. Sorry I got rid of mine...I've missed all that movement on 4x5 a few times! It is a WA for an 8x10, by the way.

[catherine_constantinou]

Thanks Chauncey.

Thanks Vick, most interesting and helpful. What is a WA?

Regards - Catherine

[michael_briggs2]

"WA" is Wide Angle. The label "Extreme W.A." means that this lens has very wide coverage, to use the current terminology, and thus can be used as a wide-angle lens. But this is an old lens, of an old and obsolete design. What I mean by "obsolete" is that no LF lens manufacturer still uses this design, instead they use designs with performance that is improved in some way. But a cost is that the modern lenses weigh more and cost more money. So some photographers still like this lens, but the prices are in the range quoted above.

 

"No A26481" is the serial number, and is unique to the lens that you have.

[catherine_constantinou]

Thank you Michael.

[john_galuszka]

I'll attach a photo of the Wollensak info for an earlier version. It is said to have a circle of coverage of 396mm. Yup, it's so old that Ansel Adams had one!<div></div>

[catherine_constantinou]

Thank you John, very interesting.

[profhlynnjones]

Hi Catherine,

 

I have a couple of them, they cover 8x10 and are suprisingly good, neither of mine are flash synchronized so if need be I use open flash.

 

Lynn

[Melissa k]

I have a lens that Im

curious about myself. I found it in my uncles estate. Curious if it’s of any value. It’s very old.    Wollensak for the Ciro-Flex model E camera, produced approximately between 1948-1952. The wires are for flash synchronization and would lead into the camera body.  

[Dustin McAmera]

The lens from a Ciro-Flex should be an 85mm f/3.5 Wollensak Velostigmat, I think, in a Rapax shutter (an Alphax in earlier models) with speeds up to 1/400 second. It's a shame it's not still attached to the Ciro-flex. It's a lens of three glass elements; that's nothing to write home about, but perfectly good if the glass isn't scratched, and the shutter is working. At that age, I doubt it's coated, is it (a colored sheen on the front of the glass)?

People likely to want to buy this are mostly going to be people hoping to replace a damaged lens on a Ciro-Flex, or on a medium-format folding camera. I wouldn't expect it to sell for very much, to be honest. You can search at Ebay for completed sales, and see what prices people actually paid, rather than what people asked for.. Or, since you've registered here, you could list it in the classifieds: see here https://www.photo.net/forums/forum/50-classified/  -read the 'How to use this forum' post first. Maybe list it for best-offer? Less people will see a classified here than at Ebay; but it's a private sale, so no fees to pay. Don't forget postage; you may want to say 'mainland US only' or something.

85mm is very slightly long for the 2¼-inch-square format; that means there's a chance this might just cover 2¼x3¼-inch. If so, people with small Graflex press cameras might be interested. I tried out a 75mm three-element lens on mine (an f/2.9 Trioplan off a broken 4.5x6cm folding camera); it doesn't cover (the image fades out in the corners: https://www.flickr.com/photos/century_graphic/175401090/ ).

 

[Charles_Webster]

My Ciro-Flex Model F has a Wollensak 83mm F/3.2 lens. It was my father's camera purchased in ~1953 for ~$80. The model F featured a "parallax correcting viewfinder" that moved a mask up and down on the viewfinder ground glass to approximate the current view. The Rapax shutter has speeds from 1s to 1/400s, with M and F.X flash sync to 1/50s. I have run hundreds of rolls of film through it in the 60 years that it has been mine.