Ambro51 Posted December 21, 2015 Share #1 Posted December 21, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) I build wet plate and daguerreotype cameras and recently a client ordered an 8 x10 and sent her lens for the build. Never having seen one before, I was very startled by the size and weight of this F 3.6 monster. The camera took it all in stride, and WOW what a beautiful image it threw on the ground glass. Under the loupe, the detail was perfect, with even coverage across the plate. I'm sure the tinypes and ambrotypes it makes will be stunning. Without an iris though, it will be a challenge to work this as exposures (by lenscap) will be in the two second range on a bright day. It is my understanding this is a projector lens. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 21, 2015 Posted December 21, 2015 Hi Ambro51, Take a look here Leitz Epis lens on an 8x10 Wet Plate Camera. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
luigi bertolotti Posted December 21, 2015 Share #2 Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) Yes, as suggested by the name , Leitz EPIS lenses were used in projection ("epidiascope") systems : you can find them, for instance, in the Leitz 1957 General Catalog: the 325mm f3,6 lens you depict is listed together with an EPIS 400mm f4 (projection distances 6-11 mt for the 325mm, 8-14 mt for the 400mm). Compliment for your work !!! I suppose you prepare also your own wet plates... a patient task... Edited December 21, 2015 by luigi bertolotti Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkP Posted December 21, 2015 Share #3 Posted December 21, 2015 Thank you for this fascinating post. I would love to see the photographs it produces. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted December 21, 2015 Share #4 Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) I wonder if couldn't be better to mount the lens in reversed position... surely a less "clean" arrangement and aspect... but it's consistent with the lightrays direction the lens was designed for... Anyway, there is a historical official precedent story of a projection lens adapted for taking (the Leitz Hektor 120/125 mm f 2,5) Edited December 21, 2015 by luigi bertolotti Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted December 21, 2015 I did not realize the light ray path ideally should be the other way, but cannot find any fault with the image it produced. F 3.6 is the normal design ratio of a Petzval lens. I stopped actively shooting wet plate a decade ago after having done my decade on the Civil War Reenactmennt scene and doing about ten thousand plates. The camera building business is more than full time now. I do wonder about "crossing" wet plate to Leica......it would be really easy to design a "single shot" small wet plate assembly much like the second version of the Leica unit, with the lexposures made by cap. Collodion plates are grainless and allow amazing enlargement. BTW for "scale" here's another picture of the 8x10. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankap Posted December 21, 2015 Share #6 Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) I wonder if couldn't be better to mount the lens in reversed position... surely a less "clean" arrangement and aspect... but it's consistent with the lightrays direction the lens was designed for... Anyway, there is a historical official precedent story of a projection lens adapted for taking (the Leitz Hektor 120/125 mm f 2,5) As I became my IIIf in 1957 my parents gave me a small Leitz projector too. It had Leica LTM thread and my first slides were projected with an Elmar 9cm f/4. Of course at f/4, because of the heat. Fstop f/4 offered not much light, so only small pictures were possible. But the screen of my now used laptop is only 14". Jan Edited December 21, 2015 by jankap Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted December 21, 2015 Share #7 Posted December 21, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) I wonder if couldn't be better to mount the lens in reversed position... surely a less "clean" arrangement and aspect... but it's consistent with the lightrays direction the lens was designed for... Anyway, there is a historical official precedent story of a projection lens adapted for taking (the Leitz Hektor 120/125 mm f 2,5) I don't think the direction in which the light travels matters greatly. What seems more important to me is that the rear side of the lens should face the image, because it's closer to the lens than the object. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted December 21, 2015 Share #8 Posted December 21, 2015 I did not realize the light ray path ideally should be the other way, but cannot find any fault with the image it produced. F 3.6 is the normal design ratio of a Petzval lens I think anyway that reversing the lens wouldn't make a significant difference ... Petzval, iirc, is a symmetrical design... I am not surprised that it covers fine an 8x10" format ... for epidiascopes, it was normal to use A4 sheets for projection... and some of them were really "big iron" http://pradoseum.eu/Epidiaskope.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsleica Posted December 21, 2015 Share #9 Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) Nice Cam & lens! I haven't shot LF for 5 to 6 years now..but just this week...dusted off a couple of 8x10's..and the 100 year old Dallmeyer F3... You think your lens is big...this one definitely stresses the Dorff front end bigtime..too bad the Ebony in back has such a tiny lil lensboard..the Dallmeyer just wont fit.. Edited December 21, 2015 by tsleica Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share #10 Posted December 22, 2015 Yup that lens is dwarfing the DDorff. It would look right at home on one of my cameras! All this makes me think of poor asthmatic Oskar hauling his plate camera....dreaming up the Leica! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted December 22, 2015 Share #11 Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Interesting subject! Here is one of my LF prizes. Edited December 22, 2015 by pico 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share #12 Posted December 22, 2015 It gets insane, seriously inSane when the ULF guys try and out duel each other. Last year I had to make this Leviathan, 32x36 wet plate camera with an 7 foot bellows draw. Closed up, it measured 48x48x24. .....took two guys to move it around. Insane. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted December 22, 2015 Share #13 Posted December 22, 2015 What a monster !!! Which material for the body ? And the lens ? How to cover 32x36 ? Home made ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share #14 Posted December 22, 2015 I used mostly 8 ply birch plywood, the lens was some early 20th century process lens with about a 42" fl. It lit up the focusing screen pretty well. That one was my "high water mark". The client supplied the bellows, he paid $500 for them some years ago but never found someone crazy enough to build the camera around it. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nectar wilson Posted May 15, 2022 Share #15 Posted May 15, 2022 Aloha! I just scored a 400mm wetzlar lens like you mentioned earlier. Wondering how much you would charge to make a camera for it? Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted May 15, 2022 Author Share #16 Posted May 15, 2022 I am Retired from the camera building career. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nectar wilson Posted May 17, 2022 Share #17 Posted May 17, 2022 By chance any used bodies? That's could hold the 400mm wetzlar epi lens . Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro51 Posted May 18, 2022 Author Share #18 Posted May 18, 2022 Nope. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Carrigan Posted August 10, 2023 Share #19 Posted August 10, 2023 Hi, I have mounted my 325 Epis, my 430 Ross and my 460 Cooke to my Mentor Panorama Camera (18x24CM) and it has a built in shutter. Set up for use with film and plates. Find yourself a mentor - east german rail camera, big, heavy but good for this Preview attachment 5E38CE1B-456A-4CB3-BC9A-FF9E1E6DEB9B.JPG Preview attachment IMG_7675.jpg Preview attachment IMG_6141.jpg Preview attachment C24F3F3A-60B7-4FFF-A66A-09EE6EC83A36.JPG 5E38CE1B-456A-4CB3-BC9A-FF9E1E6DEB9B.JPG 1.4 MB C24F3F3A-60B7-4FFF-A66A-09EE6EC83A36.JPG 1.5 MB IMG_6141.jpg 2 MB IMG_7675.jpg 2.6 MB 5E38CE1B-456A-4CB3-BC9A-FF9E1E6DEB9B.JPG 1.4 MB Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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