Nicht immer nur Kaviar ... (English Version)

[pgk]

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I'm experimenting building a 'step & repeat' large format camera to enable digital large format images to be created. Its not an easy task! However my MkII version is starting to come together and I was finally able to shoot a test series through the window and stitch them to see if everything was working in practice as it should (in theory). The camera is currently assembled from a couple of Arca cameras (old and current) and is tricky to operate at the moment as it is anything but light tight I have a Paramo dark cloth which is great but hot). However I mounted up a 5 1/4" Dallmeyer (wide-angle) Rectilinear lens (almost certainly made in January 1888) and tried it out. The image covers a film plane area of around 10 x 6 cm ish (so say 1/4 platish) and its flawed (reflections, etc.) but in bright light surprisingly detailed and contrasty. The result:

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[thomas_schertel]

vor einer Stunde schrieb pgk:

What is the lens Thomas?

Aldis Anstigmat F 7, 7 No 7, with approx 16 cm focal length

[pgk]

2 hours ago, thomas_schertel said:

Aldis Anstigmat F 7, 7 No 7, with approx 16 cm focal length

Ahhh yes. Another British Optical business which, if I remeber correctly, ended up as part of the J Arthur Rank empire, along with TTH, Wray, and many others, all effectively vanishing in the 1950s and 1960s.

[wlaidlaw]

I think TT&H is now owned by or is the holding company for Cooke Optical, who are very much still alive. TT&H were certainly until fairly recently, still making high precision optical measurement tools for things like checking the flatness of the beds on CNC machinery, within .0005mm. 

Wilson

[pgk]

19 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

I think TT&H is now owned by or is the holding company for Cooke Optical, who are very much still alive. TT&H were certainly until fairly recently, still making high precision optical measurement tools for things like checking the flatness of the beds on CNC machinery, within .0005mm. 

Wilson

Indeed, I think Cooke were spun off from whatever remained of TTH in the Rank Portfolio and the name used due to its historical association with high quality lenses. TTH went into surface measurement a long time ago I believe due to their delving into the understanding of ground (glass) surfaces. I think that they also built engraving machines. But I'm not sure of the routeways which resulted in the fragmentation of the Rank Organisation and the numerous businesses which resulted. Some of the current optical and other specialist businesses still operating in the UK can trace their ancestry back to the likes of Chance, Pilkington, Wray, Dallmeyer, etc., but most have new names and many are unknown outside their specialist fields. For example there is a highly specialised coatings business in the NE of England which is the surviving remnant of Grubbs of Dublin, through Sir Howard Grubb and Parsons and so on. 

[wlaidlaw]

Paul, 

Do you know if the company in the north of England do coating for one off photographic lenses. I have assembled a replica of the Leica my father used from 1940/41 when he was presented with it by the Scottish-Polish association for his work in resettling, supporting and finding housing and employment for the post-invasion Polish diaspora in the north of Scotland. It was stolen in Madrid in 1967. It was a IIIa, with 2 speed MOOLY and a 50mm Summar, which he had coated in the Netherlands post war (probably Oude Delft Delfinerin process). I have it all put together but I have been unable to find anyone to coat the lovely one owner and sold with the IIIa Summar lens. Malcolm Taylor no longer does lens coating. I sent him the camera and MOOLY for CLA of both and to have the lens coated. It came back (eventually after a lot of chasing) with the CLA's done but no coating on the lens. 

Wilson

[zeitz]

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4 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Do you know if the company in the north of England do coating for one off photographic lenses.

I am constantly stunned by the lack of companies who would provide the simplest services.  I tried a company in the Los Angeles area of the US for separation on a simple cemented-doublet achromat.  I sent them my lens.  They gave me a price.  Then I never heard from them again.  Fortunately it was not a major loss.

This company is in Germany and their website has a lot of promise.  I have no idea if they are trustworthy or not.

https://www.gecko-cam.com/lens-service/

 

[pgk]

12 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Paul, 

Do you know if the company in the north of England do coating for one off photographic lenses. I have assembled a replica of the Leica my father used from 1940/41 when he was presented with it by the Scottish-Polish association for his work in resettling, supporting and finding housing and employment for the post-invasion Polish diaspora in the north of Scotland. It was stolen in Madrid in 1967. It was a IIIa, with 2 speed MOOLY and a 50mm Summar, which he had coated in the Netherlands post war (probably Oude Delft Delfinerin process). I have it all put together but I have been unable to find anyone to coat the lovely one owner and sold with the IIIa Summar lens. Malcolm Taylor no longer does lens coating. I sent him the camera and MOOLY for CLA of both and to have the lens coated. It came back (eventually after a lot of chasing) with the CLA's done but no coating on the lens. 

Wilson

No they specialise in 'invisible' spectra coatings! I think that Cameraworks were hoping to be able to offer coatings as I think that they had bought a machine to do so. You could ask them but I doubt it will be a quick service because my guess is that they will save up sufficient optics to batch coat a lot in one go. Worth trying though. Its an area that I've not researched but my understading is that magnesium flouride is often used and I think that is what Cameraworks were going to use. FWIW: https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optical_Coating_Materials_and_Deposition/a25493

[wlaidlaw]

Thanks Paul. I believe some vital parts were missing from the vacuum sputtered coatings machine that Alan bought, some years ago now. I will give him a ring to ask if he has got it working yet.  It may be easier just to buy a coated Summar but the one I have, as a one owner (other than me) lens, which has not had a great deal of use, is so nice, I would really like to get it coated. It was also the lens bought with the IIIa in 1937 from Wallace Heaton, as I have the original receipt. 

Wilson

[pgk]

8 hours ago, zeitz said:

This company is in Germany and their website has a lot of promise.  I have no idea if they are trustworthy or not.

https://www.gecko-cam.com/lens-service/

Sounds like this company: https://www.truelens.co.uk/lens-servicing-repair but they look as though they work on movie lenses so by still photography standards their prices are likely to be eye-watering I would guess. Also trying to get a specialist business to look at potentially time-consuming and awkward one-off repairs can be very difficult.

[pgk]

2 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

Thanks Paul. I believe some vital parts were missing from the vacuum sputtered coatings machine that Alan bought, some years ago now. I will give him a ring to ask if he has got it working yet.  It may be easier just to buy a coated Summar but the one I have, as a one owner (other than me) lens, which has not had a great deal of use, is so nice, I would really like to get it coated. It was also the lens bought with the IIIa in 1937 from Wallace Heaton, as I have the original receipt. 

Wilson

I'll have a chat with a friend in the optics industry and see if he has any ideas. I have a horrible feeling that coating technology may have moved on far enough to make 'simple' coating deposition tricky because its no longer the 'norm'. I'll get back to you.

[willeica]

52 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

Thanks Paul. I believe some vital parts were missing from the vacuum sputtered coatings machine that Alan bought, some years ago now. I will give him a ring to ask if he has got it working yet.  It may be easier just to buy a coated Summar but the one I have, as a one owner (other than me) lens, which has not had a great deal of use, is so nice, I would really like to get it coated. It was also the lens bought with the IIIa in 1937 from Wallace Heaton, as I have the original receipt. 

Wilson

Wilson, I met Alan Starkie at the Leica Society International (LSI) meeting in Porto recently. He is a very nice fellow and knows his business very well. He was there with David Stephens of Leica Manchester and one night we had dinner with Augusto Liger (tranquilo67) who had driven from Madrid to talk to our meeting about Mr Mur's collection which includes 0 Series No 104. I discussed with Alan the possibility of my flying to Manchester with some LTM cameras and then having lunch with Alan and David and repeating the same a month or two later to collect the items. Given the bureaucracy and costs associated with Brexit it will be worthwhile doing that. Yesterday I received this small brass lens with a Dublin engraving which made 3 crossings of the Irish Sea, due to Brexit related issues, before it finally got to me. So far, I have not been charged any tax, but the amount will be small should that arise.

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While I was in Porto I presented a plaque to Dr Kaufmann awarding him honorary life membership of LSI. This is the only photo I have seen so far, even though there must have been a hundred cameras in the room.

I seem to be lecturing him here. He had earlier said that, long before his time, Leica had chosen Portugal over Ireland as the location for its 'outside of Germany' factory. I told him that the people in the factory in Famalicao near Porto were so nice that I could forgive Leica for that decision of choosing Portugal over Ireland. At the factory everything is hand made to 21st century standards by a wonderful work force. Alan Starkie was with us on that trip to the factory. You should ask him about it when you speak to him.

William 

 

[wlaidlaw]

William,

I have to speak to Alan anyway, as one of the cameras he repaired for me (a R&S model 3 Mk.2), has had one of the internal baffles come loose. it dropped out when I was changing lenses and in a very fortunate piece of serendipity, landed on my shoe, otherwise I might never have found it, as I was standing in a field. I don't mind non-coated lenses for B&W but I have Ektra 100 in the IIIa so currently using either my 1960 Summaron 2.8/35-LTM or my 1999 50 Summicron V-LTM Special Edition.

Customs are a nightmare post-Brexit. I am still fighting over a £300 refund due to me for returning a faulty MOOLY-C to Arsenal Photo in Germany. UK customs agree I am due the refund but it never arrives. Can I take the UK tax authorities (HMRC) to the small claims court, as in the book Uncommon Law by A.P. Herbert, also a TV series starring Alastair Sim, where he charged the UK government with "living off immoral earnings" when they tried to charge his client, a lady offering "strict discipline" commercial services, for income tax.  Then if HMRC still don't pay, I could take out a Garnishee order, freezing their bank accounts. A friend of mine did this when Commercial Union failed to settle a claim, even while admitting they should pay and losing in court. He said you had never seen an insurance company move so fast, as when they arrived one Monday morning to find all their bank accounts frozen. 😀

Wilson

 

[pgk]

50 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

Can I take the UK tax authorities (HMRC) to the small claims court .....

I see no reason why not. Not even government is above the law ..... ?

[dkCambridgeshire]

1 hour ago, pgk said:

I see no reason why not. Not even government is above the law ..... ?

If in contact with anyone at HMRC ask them if they are a 'permanent employee' or if they're on a 12 month contract. Many are are on 12 months renewable contracts and maybe not up to speed with their workload. Consider asking to speak with someone who is not a "12 monther" and is a little more efficient. 

[willeica]

3 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Customs are a nightmare post-Brexit. I am still fighting over a £300 refund due to me for returning a faulty MOOLY-C to Arsenal Photo in Germany. UK customs agree I am due the refund but it never arrives. Can I take the UK tax authorities (HMRC) to the small claims court, as in the book Uncommon Law by A.P. Herbert, also a TV series starring Alastair Sim, where he charged the UK government with "living off immoral earnings" when they tried to charge his client, a lady offering "strict discipline" commercial services, for income tax.  Then if HMRC still don't pay, I could take out a Garnishee order, freezing their bank accounts. A friend of mine did this when Commercial Union failed to settle a claim, even while admitting they should pay and losing in court. He said you had never seen an insurance company move so fast, as when they arrived one Monday morning to find all their bank accounts frozen. 😀

 

Give Alan my regards when you are talking to him. I'm way too busy at the moment to organise my trip to Manchester. Next Thursday I am going to Berlin for the opening of an exhibition of work by 40 Irish photographers which we are organising with Irish Government support and the following week I am launching a book of late 19th/early 20th Century photography at Farmleigh, the former Guinness mansion in the Phoenix Park which is now a government residence for State visitors to Ireland such as Queen Elizabeth II who stayed there in 2011. https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/book-launch-the-vision-of-a-19th-century-lensman-goddard-orpen-18

I was involved in setting up the Small Claims Court system in Ireland over 30 years ago. I love that Alastair Sim story. Revenue people don't understand hobbies such as camera collecting or even more so getting old cameras etc repaired and, frankly, they don't want to have any such understanding. If you saw my correspondence with the Irish Post Office about returning an item to the UK for an incorrect form, where I said that this item probably left Ireland 130 years ago and that I might eventually donate it to an Irish institution such as a museum or library, you would not know whether to laugh or cry. Anyway it is back in Ireland now with me. These things are sent to try us, as my late mother would say. At least we cannot complain about being bored!

William 

[wlaidlaw]

Somewhere along the way, I have lost or more likely lent out my copy of what was originally Misleading Cases by A.P. Herbert and published by Punch magazine. This was later expanded into two books as Uncommon Law 66 Misleading Cases and More Misleading Cases. I have just bought another copy of book 1 from AbeBooks UK, which will be waiting for me when I come back to the UK for 10 days in mid June for some family events. My father was at school in Aberdeen Gordons College , where Alastair Sim (briefly) and Andrew Cruickshank (Dr Cameron in Dr Finlay's Casebook), were among his fellow pupils. My father had no real memory of Cruickshank but Sim was apparently notorious for very accurately mimicking their teachers. 

Wilson

[pgk]

A recent purchase and modification. An Oschwald era Swiss built Arca Swiss 5" x 4" camera. I bought a spare aluminium lensboard and fitted a section of mahogany to it having cut away a recess to take Gandolfi lens boards and fitted suitable brass retainers. The result is a surprisingly lightweight, high precision technical camera which will take a whole series of barrel lenses fitted to Gandolfi boards. I have a Copal Shutter which I will use in front of most of the lenses in due course. The lens shown is a Taylor Taylor Hobson MAR of 5 1/4" focal length, which is not too far from a 35mm equivalent on 35mm. It dates from the 1890s.

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Edited June 7, 2024 by pgk
typo

[250swb]

On 6/2/2024 at 8:19 AM, wlaidlaw said:

Thanks Paul. I believe some vital parts were missing from the vacuum sputtered coatings machine that Alan bought, some years ago now. I will give him a ring to ask if he has got it working yet.  It may be easier just to buy a coated Summar but the one I have, as a one owner (other than me) lens, which has not had a great deal of use, is so nice, I would really like to get it coated. It was also the lens bought with the IIIa in 1937 from Wallace Heaton, as I have the original receipt. 

Wilson

This may be a bum lead in they may only offer coatings on their own products, and I don't know what the costs are, but the people I get my ANR glass from Knight Optical offer a coating service

https://www.knightoptical.com/services/optical-coatings/

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[wlaidlaw]

14 minutes ago, 250swb said:

This may be a bum lead in they may only offer coatings on their own products, and I don't know what the costs are, but the people I get my ANR glass from Knight Optical offer a coating service

https://www.knightoptical.com/services/optical-coatings/

I will contact them Steve. Many thanks for the suggestion. I don't know with the early coating efforts, if just the two external surfaces were coated or all the air surfaces. I suspect with my father's original coating (probably Delfinerin by Oude Delft but certainly done in the Netherlands in 1948), just the two external surfaces were done. When I tested the Summar lens as part of a physics paper in 1965 (centre, edge resolution, distortion, vignetting) , it really was quite a poor performer, compared with a modern Mamiya Sekor 55mm f1.7 and another lens. It was dramatically improved by Wallace Heaton re-polishing the front element and coating all air surfaces. It jumped up from last place by a long way to first equal with the Mamiya. I think this shows the basic soundness of the design, just held back by the absence of coating and deterioration from much usage.

Wilson