question about German lense

[titus bear]

Found a large studio camera (Ansco) in an attic, with a 9" X 9" plate with a German lens.

C.P. Goerz Berlin No. 26355
Serie III No.6. F=300 m/m
Doppel - Anastigmat F: 7,7 D.R.P. No. 74437

15 diaphragm blades. #'s on aperature: 6,12,24,48,96,192,384,768

any insights /ideas re: specifics of the lens (history, performance envelope, how to clean, maintain, use).

can be seen at http://contemplativeeye.com/goerzberlin.htm

titus
vt, usa

[Ian Grant]

It's an early German Dagor before Goerz adopted the name which is short for Doppel Anastigmat Goerz, and it also uses an old style aperture nomenclature. It's an early Dagor they were introduced in 1892 and by the early 1900's the 300mm/12" had been redesigned to give f6.8.

The 6 is f7.7
12 = f11
24 = f16
48 = f22
96 = f32
192 = f45
384 = f64
768 = f90

Coverage is good, 10x8 at full aperture and 10x12when stopped dow to f16 and 12x15 by f64, and depending on the condition should be a good performer.

It needs cleaning with care, but may be a very usable lens, you need to find a shutter, a Packard or Thornton Pickard ideally to use it with. You can find plenty about Dagors on the internet.

Ian

[leighmarrin]

Nice lens! A cheap and fun way to start using your old Ansco camera and Goerz lens would be with B&W enlarging paper, which can be developed using inexpensive developer and fixer under a red or amber safelight. The resulting image will be a negative, which can be reversed either on a flatbed scanner, or by contact printing, or by shooting another copy of the first negative. Results will not be as good as with far more expensive sheet film, but still capable of making decent images.

[Ian Grant]

Should have added I use an American Goerz Am Opt 12" Dagor on my 10x8 Agfa Ansco, I was told by the previous owner the lens was useless. It's actually a superb performer, very sharp, plenty of contrast, mine was factory coated after WWII. So give yours a go.

Ian

[Jim Noel]

I have this lens' cousin or brother. It is my standard lens on the 7x17.

[guy1966]

Know this is an old thread, but he has a extremely early Dagor. Goerz themselves said they had sold 30,000 by 1895 (!). and his serial number is below that. Since Goerz built other lenses besides the Dagor and probably used sequential serial numbers, his could be very early, like the first year of production. Interesting that they has Series III on it that early. Figured that didn't get engraved until after 1904.

[premo]

That is a fabulous lens, and a great camera---I'm jealous!!

[andrew plume]

Found a large studio camera (Ansco) in an attic, with a 9" X 9" plate with a German lens.


can be seen at http://contemplativeeye.com/goerzberlin.htm

titus
vt, usa

Hi Titus

The link that you posted cannot be currently accessed at my end - if you could post again, I'd be grateful

Ian mentioned the 300mm f6.8, 'follow on lens', which I have, it's probably not as sharp as yours, is a little soft, which is exactly what I need

Good luck with the camera and lens


andrew

[Ian Grant]

Andrew, my 12" (300mm) f6.8 Dagor is a very sharp lens. Dagors like Tessar's must have benefited from new optical glasses as they became available and I think there's probably slight differences in quality between the Goerz Am Opt versions compared to the German lenses.

Ian

[andrew plume]

Andrew, my 12" (300mm) f6.8 Dagor is a very sharp lens. Dagors like Tessar's must have benefited from new optical glasses as they became available and I think there's probably slight differences in quality between the Goerz Am Opt versions compared to the German lenses.

Ian

thx Ian

best

andrew