The Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain and a Very Interesting Article About British Lenses

[John Seaman]

Sorry about the long title but I thought this was worth sharing. The PCCGB have a nice website here:

LINK ----- https://pccgb.net/

Scroll down to "Research", then down to "WW2 Era Mirror Lens by Ross" which has a link to an article about British lenses and cameras. It downloads a Powerpoint presentation.  Trust me if you have the slightest interest in UK lenses etc, it's worth the effort.

[Julio Fernandez]

Indeed a very interesting website. Thanks for sharing this!

[ken_davis1]

The PCCGB has a fine quarterly journal and an on-line Tailboard publication that are worth joining for never mind the comprehensive set of meetings that take place each year.

[John Seaman]

19 minutes ago, ken_davis1 said:

The PCCGB has a fine quarterly journal and an on-line Tailboard publication that are worth joining for never mind the comprehensive set of meetings that take place each year.

I really must get around to joining. I went to their camera fairs a few times.

[rodeo_joe1]

Aldis (Birmingham) and AGI (Croydon) are two names at least that should be added to the 'also ran' list of English lens-makers. 

Aldis are perhaps best remembered for their projection lenses, but they also made, mainly large format, camera lenses. They were still making at least a 6" f/4.5 Anastigmat when later incorporated into the Rank organisation as Rank-Aldis. I own one such lens as proof. 

AGI - Aeronautical and General Instruments - also apparently made their own Agilux lenses. As fitted to the Agiflex series of 6x6cm SLRs. (The lenses were actually pretty awful, but let's gloss over that!) Somewhere I have some negatives shot with Agilux lenses on an Agiflex II camera. 'Characterful' would be a charitable description of the image-quality. 

The same could be said of prints made with a 2" f/3.5 Wray Supar enlarging lens. Wray churned out those nasty little optics by the gross, judging by how many of them are still out there. My sample of 50mm f/2 Unilite is nothing to rave about either, sadly.

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by rodeo_joe1

[Dustin McAmera]

I have one Aldis, an Aldis-Butcher Anastigmat, 6-inch f/4.5 like yours, on my Ensign Reflex. A tie-up with Houghton-Butcher must have been quite good business. The Ross lens would have been a step up.

I have an Agiflex. I think the lens is adequate, though that's based on only a couple of outings; it's a triplet with a rather blue coating.

The only Wray I have is an eight-inch f/8 Apo Process Lustrar. That came fitted on my Calumet monorail, but screws straight on the Ensign.

 

[rick_drawbridge]

Thanks, John, a very worthwhile post!

[dan_fromm2]

On 2/3/2023 at 2:28 PM, John Seaman said:

Sorry about the long title but I thought this was worth sharing. The PCCGB have a nice website here:

LINK ----- https://pccgb.net/

Scroll down to "Research", then down to "WW2 Era Mirror Lens by Ross" which has a link to an article about British lenses and cameras. It downloads a Powerpoint presentation.  Trust me if you have the slightest interest in UK lenses etc, it's worth the effort.

Thanks for posting.  I read the ppt on British lenses and lens makers.  Sorry, not only does it omit some British lens manufacturers, as mentioned in Rodeo Joe's post above, it is full of misinformation and errors.  Best ignored.

[John Seaman]

I don't know what the context of the article was, probably just a talk to a society meeting, rather than any kind of  academic purpose. It doesn't claim to be comprehensive or authoritative. I daresay there were multiple manufacturers, many of which are forgotten.