Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic

[Bob K.]

I recently purchased a Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic with a Kodak Anastigmat f7.7 lens. I'm unable to find much info on the lens. Does anyone know how many elements/groups for this lens? Was it made by Zeiss?

bob k.

[Ian C]

See this

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum44/4...-7-7-lens.html

[Bob K.]

Interesting. So this would be 4 elements in 4 groups, the same as the large format lens of the same name? Thanks for the link.

[pgomena]

I have a similar lens, a 140mm f/7.7 Kodak anastigmat. I was hoping for a magically different look to my images. I was disappointed that the lens was amazingly sharp and easily covered 4x5" film on tabletop subjects. I once unscrewed and removed the front element set while I had it on an 8x10 camera and found that the rear elements alone covered the whole negative. Covered, but didn't necessarily make a great image. Remember that many of the major modern lens designs had been created by the time your lens was manufactured. Competition was stiff, and good lenses were available. Those old lenses are fun to play with. Try unscrewing the element groups a little to increase the distance between them, just for effect.

Peter Gomena

[Bob K.]

thank you Peter.

[BrianShaw]

I have a similar lens, a [170 mm B&L Raprid Rectilinear]. I was hoping for a magically different look to my images. I was disappointed that the lens was amazingly sharp and easily covered 4x5" film on tabletop subjects.

I had similar reaction. Then I realized that it is the most inexpensive LF lens I own... and it is quite usable. Only challenge with mine is remembering that it is in US stops, not f stops.