Mystery ULF lens

[Struan Gray]

Ah well. Informed conjecture is better than nothing.

FWIW, my wife - a historian - informs me that the Broad Arrow used to denote Crown property goes back at least as far as Richard II (1357-1400). Not much help in dating a lens :-)

[Dan Fromm]

Struan, do you have any idea why so many ex-Air Ministry lenses lack the broad arrow?

Also, a while ago I bought a Shackman Automatic Dial Recording Camera. Shackman's current owners tell me that it was made for the Admiralty. But, again, it has no contract number, no inventory number, and no broad arrow. It was used, I was told, to record the results of gunnery practice, and I can't imagine a civilian application for it. Any ideas about its lack of government labels?

Thanks,

Dan

[Struan Gray]

I'm sorry Dan, but my experience having grown up with the Navy and served in the Marines is that the broad arrow comes and goes rather unpredictably. As a rule, if something is manufactured specifically for the military - such as a camo jacket - there will be a broad arrow somewhere on it. Sometimes though, it will be on the packaging or shipping crate and not on the item itself: I've seen WWII bomb sights and tank borescopes like this. It is most often missing altogether from items with a parallel civilian purpose - like cameras and lenses. The staff photographers in the R.M. units I worked with had standard Nikon kit with no extra markings.

My dad was and engineer in the Fleet Air Arm, and worked with the airborne early warning and reconnaisance aircraft, but never handled the cameras. He's good on how to tell if your Gannet is about to fall out of the sky, but not much use on lens markings :-)

I have three Aerial lenses. The 5" W.A. Xpress has an arrow and a contract number. The 7" Aero-Ektar, from the same source and certainly MOD surplus, only has the usual Kodak markings. The 36" telephoto has no broad arrow, but it came to me via the Swedish Air Force so that's not surprising.

[Dan Fromm]

Unpredictable is mild. I have a pair of ex-RAF ex-Agiflite 12"/4 TTH teles. They're the same lens as fitted to the Vinten F95, just screw into an Agiflite mount adapter. The Agiflite adapters have contract #s and broad arrows, the lenses don't. As we say, "go figure."

A while ago bought a 6"/1.9 Super Six that the seller said was ex-MoD. Not a government mark on it.

Cheers,

Dan

[David H. Bebbington]

Those who contributed to this thread may be interested in this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...505570363&rd=1
Just like my lens except for the letter code in front of the serial number and the arrow mark/inventory number on the lens barrel (and also my lens closes to a marked f32).

[barton-wood]

Sirs,

I realise that this thread is somewhat dated but I am a newcomer to the forum and would like some advice about finding anyone who can be trusted to properly clean older lens elements and, perhaps, get them coated.

I have a Wray 36" F1:4 "Night Camera" Air Reconnaissance Lens. It has been modified by removing the shutter and is now housed in a fully circular cell. The lenses have suffered from a little surface corrosion over the years and I should like to have the elements cleaned and, possibly, coated. Can anyone suggest an outfit that could carry out the work on the elements alone. I should add that I am able to strip and rebuild the lens but am reticent to do any serious work on the glass.

The second point is about the TTH 12" F1:4 lenses mentioned in the thread. I also have two of these and worked on them when I was an apprentice and later whilst at Kershaws in Leeds (Rank Precision Industries) during the sixties and early seventies. These lenses are splendid examples of the lensmakers art and are every bit as good as the majority of modern glass with the exception, in some cases, of very expensive glass. Whether it is medium format, 35mm or, dare I mention it, digital, the images from these lenses are superb.

Yours hopefully and with regards,

John Barton Wood,

Retired,

Leeds, West Yorkshire, U.K.

[Dan Fromm]

John, in the US (I know you're in the UK), the polisher/coater of choice seems to be John Van Stelten at www.focalpointlens.com . We also have www.davrooptical.com; several years ago one of my friends got an estimate from them for polishing a Zoomar mirror lens but, IIRC, never had the work done. Neither of these shops is inexpensive.

Some years ago when I was looking for a shop to overhaul a damaged 4"/2.0 TTH lens I came across www.truelens.co.uk who, IIRC, offered lens polishing and coating. I just revisited their site and it doesn't mention these services; more evidence, I fear, that my memory is failing. But ask them, the worst they can do is admit that they can't help you. Cooke Optics, whose URL I don't have, is another possibility.

Good luck,

Dan