http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130215626327&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123

I have no clue. Seriously. I'm pretty much going to know nothing about this until I get it. Judging from the lens board I'd say it's probably an enlarger lens, but I'm not sure. For $3.74 I figured what the hey.

I love the description: "It is a manual focus lens."

Yeah, that got me.

I think what made me put in the 99 cents was the fact that the thing looks dirty and unloved. I figure that if all else fails I can use it with a rollfilm back and a weird makeshift lens board. Anyone have a Tilley I could borrow? :D

Looks like a short focal length (50mm?) enlarger lens. Might work as a nice macro lens for 4x5 or something.

Yes, it looks small to me too. If you win it for .99 it might be fun, but I wouldn't bid much more.

Looks like a short focal length (50mm?) enlarger lens. Might work as a nice macro lens for 4x5 or something.

Stephanie- I have a couple of these floating around... Beware the impulse to pick up the errant lens "because it might be fun"! I have WAY too many boxes full of lenses/adapters/accessories/shutters/filters/etc because of this temptation.

You've been warned! ;p

Stephanie- I have a couple of these floating around... Beware the impulse to pick up the errant lens "because it might be fun"! I have WAY too many boxes full of lenses/adapters/accessories/shutters/filters/etc because of this temptation.

You've been warned! ;p

I too have fallen for the lure of mysteries, leading to boxes of beat-up lenses, endless searches for boards and cameras that might give me a chance to use them, multiple formats to keep supplied with film, pieces and parts of said cameras scattered around my desk, waiting to be put back in some sort of usable shape. I LOVE IT.

Keep your curiosity going, Stephanie. It occasionally leads to a wonderful kind of excitement unknown to those who venture forth only with the tried and true.

Of course, my shoot to save ratio is pretty low, but then...

I often found that going on these impulses I acquired a bunch of stuff I did not know how to use and the results were always surprising; most of the time disappointing, and once in a while I got a good feeling. But, more importantly, I learned from them, and it was SO nice to use something familiar again.
It's my opinion that you can have fun with photography in many ways. For me it used to be trying new films, developers, lenses, etc. Now it's more about seeing and feeling my way through it, and for that I have to eliminate 'clutter' so I'm actually selling off most of my equipment, using only one film, one developer, but still with a multitude of papers and paper developers because the printing is less instinctive than the actual shooting, and I need to complete my vision with those printing materials by giving them different colors, texture, surfaces, tones, etc.
So have fun with it, enjoy it, that's what it's all about.
- Thomas

Photography, to me, is an experiment waiting to happen. If you never try anything other than what is in your comfort zone, do you ever really understand the entire art and craft of photography?

Hrm...maybe I should blog on this or something. ;)

I see your viewpoint, Stephanie.

You should blog it, because I think you'll come across many different opinions. Mine is that the more equipment I have the more confused I am about my art and craft. Now maybe I should blog that? :D

- Thomas

Photography, to me, is an experiment waiting to happen. If you never try anything other than what is in your comfort zone, do you ever really understand the entire art and craft of photography?

Hrm...maybe I should blog on this or something. ;)

Cool deal. I'm not sure what it is for either but if it has click stops it's more than likely for an enlarger. Smooth and it's probably for a camera. Not that it matters so much with a Speed Graphic.

I also noticed the item was from New Bedford, MA. That's my home town! Great place if you're ever in the area. It has it's issues like any city but the charm. Or chahm, as we call it..

I like hearing different opinions on photography. One of the more interesting things on the internet.

I'll blog it here, actually. Never used the blog system here before. Why not use it to explain my view point a little? :D

yo steph, i have an old lens that looks similar to that. well not quite =). you don't know what it is but it is mysterious...you like mysteries don't you? in fact, It is a manual focus lens. I'll sell it to you for $3.74, PM me.

It's funny though, I bought an Ilex Paragon 10", the photo made it look a little sad and maybe scratched or dirty but the description said clean glass and dry smooth aperture. When it came it was in excellent shape and clean. The digital photo should have been filtered in PS and a unsharp filter applied. Sometimes you never now what the item is going be but most of the time it's what you see is what you get. I wouldn't expect much from a .99 cent lens but then who knows.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=20479

Ole of course knew the answer all the time -)

The one he linked to is older and in a shutter.

YAY!

Yeah, Ole rocks. I'm jealous of his lenses (and his knowledge about them), though. Someday I'll have a stable of lenses at my disposal. And perhaps my cameras will multiply like his do. ;)

I'm jealous of his lenses (and his knowledge about them), though. ...

It's not so much "knowledge about lenses" as "knowledge about where to find knowledge about lenses". That, and getting bored out of my skull when working nightshift in the North Sea. Any hint of a challenge is enough to set me off. ;)

But now I'm at home, have had plenty to do the past week; bought a new motorbike yesterday, got the sailboat back on the water today, planning to do nothing at all tomorrow after we get back home from the obligatory family party, then monday to town to get a permit to build a garage so I can get started on that - and developing lots of "leftovers" from last year, and testing a little stack of lenses too, of course - as soon as I find a good way to carry an 8x10" camera and tripod on a motorbike...

I've been trying to figure out how to carry a Graphic safely in Rinoa's stroller *with her in it*. Graphic, tripod, holders, meter, extra lens, filters, rollfilm back (in case I get lazy), etc.

Unfortunately this challenge has been taken care of, but don't worry...I'll have another one for you soon. :p

It's not so much "knowledge about lenses" as "knowledge about where to find knowledge about lenses".

One of my college lecturers used to say that true knowledge is not knowing the answer but knowing where to find it.

This is something I still remember and say to other people 25 years after he said it to me.


Steve.