[LargeFormat] Wide field and Commercial Ektars
Richard Knoppow
dickburk at ix.netcom.com
Wed Aug 10 20:40:30 EDT 2005
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Hough " <k4sb at niia.net>
To: "f32 Large Format Photography Mail List"
<largeformat at f32.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Wide field and Commercial Ektars
> Les
> I dug them out. They are 1947 ES. The sales reciept for 3
> of them is from
> March 1947. Do not ask why I have the reciept. I've seen
> and heard of lots
> of 000 lenses since I got mine. I think they are salesmen
> samples. Too
> many of them. Give Gustafson at GEH a call about it.
> Ken
>
> Very interesting. Does your '46 set say "Wide Field" or
> "Wide Angle"
> Ektar. I have a 135 and 190 also from '46 that say Wide
> Angle, but
> these have a 000 serial number.
>
> While I'm still in negotiations with the owner, I'm aware
> of a 14"
> Eastman Ektar. Has all the markings and machining of a
> Commercial
> Ektar (bright mount of aluminum, style of engraving)
> accept its date
> code is EY (1940); hence the interest of the "Commercial"
> introduction.
>
The 1946 edition does not have either the Wide Field or
Wide Angle Ektar, the WF is in the 1948 Third Edition. My
impression, probably from old advertising, is that the WF
was introduced sometime around 1947, it may be in some
intermediate reprinting that I don't have.
The Ektar series for press and medium format view
cameras seems to have been introduced about 1940. I have two
Ektars, a 101mm and a 127mm from 1941, both uncoated. I also
have a much later 101mm which is coated and has less focus
shift. This may be simply production variation or it may be
a change in design or mounting. Kodak lists two or three
different sizes of push on filter adaptors for the 101mm
lens. The 127mm is very sharp, has little focus shift, and
seems on a par with the later, coated, versions of this
lens.
Is it you that has the Wide Angle Ektar? Whoever has this
lens please check it for reflections to get some idea of the
construction. The Wide Field Ektar is a double Gauss lens
with four air spaced elements and no cemented surfaces. Each
half should have four bright reflections and no dim ones. If
there is some other pattern its of a different design. I
suspect the Wide Angle is a prototype of the WF. The Wide
Field Ektar barely covers 90 degrees so its not really a
wide angle lens. Some one at Kodak, maybe Kingslake, may
have felt that it should not be called a wide angle lens. I
will check with the fellow at GEH. Some one got the
manufacturing records of the optical division of Kodak. I
was told several years ago that it was RIT but no one there
seems to know anything about it. These records would clarify
a lot of questions about what Kodak made and when.
The four element double Gauss was used as a
medium-wide-angle lens by a number of manufacturers but I
can find no specific data on any of them in either Smith or
Kingslake. Both show the Topogon and Metrogon as examples
but the narrower coverage versions are only mentioned. The
Roosinov lens, patented in 1946 (Schnider Super-Angulon,
etc), seems to have pretty much supplanted other wide angle
designs since the 1950's.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk at ix.netcom.com
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