Need Info on a 12" Jamine LF Lens Circa 1864

[jd callow]

Yes she did and she is the shooter to whom I refer.

[bobfowler]

From the vade mecum

Jamin, Paris, France.
Kingslake gives several addressses which can help in dating: 71, Rue St Martin to 1850, then at No127 R. St Martin, and from 1856 at 14 Rue Chapon. He retired in 1860 so all his lenses will rate as quite early ones: and Alphonse Darlot, his employee, took over and for 1 year, ie 1860-1861? the lenses carry both names. (Eg on a meniscus with ANCne Mon Jamin) though FBB seem to attribute this to a year or so earlier, ie 1858. (It is possible that 'Jamin-Darlot' is the 1858 engraving and that 'Ancne Jamin' continued longer).

Jamin was the maker of a Petzval type lens used by Mrs Cameron: it was 12in on a 9x11in plate and it gave gave imperfect coverage on her format. About 1864, the Jamin's qualities were to lead to interest in soft focus lenses which J.H .Dallmeyer was ultimately to answer with his adjustable Patent Petzval. Jamin was also the maker of a rival convertible lens to Chevalier's "Photograph a Verres Combinee" in the "Cone Centralisateur." (Mrs Cameron also used a 30in Dallmeyer RR on 15x12in). Jamin also supplied an f3.0 Petzval of c7.5in with a 1 dioptre positive in the centre of the tube which could be removed to increase the focal length from 7.5 to 9.5in. (A Darlot lens of this type has been mentioned above.)

The Kodak Museum has a Jamin Paris c.1860 Portrait lens with Waterhouse stops, about f4/21in focus with 5in dia lenses.

A large lens, probably a Petzval of his at No231x was sold at auction- it had a stubby black cone at the rear end.

FBB list a good series of cameras with RR lenses by Darlot from the 1880-1900 period and these were probably the basis of the business then. They also list a achromat for 1893, and a 'Hemispherique'= Globe in 1885. The only trade name noted was a 'Planigraph on cameras about 1888.

Jamin lenses do seem to be scarce today, and good examples are hard to find. Darlot lenses are much more common and often have both names: and this seems to show that the production must have increased considerably in his time.

[JG Motamedi]

Didn't Julia Margaret Cameron use a Jamin for a while? Until she got a Dallmeyer to replace "that horrible French lens"?

My JMC books are packed up right now, but I do remember something about a "horrible French lens".

If the portraits were just heads than a half-plate lens would do quite well. Actually, if the camera was a sliding box type as you describe, choosing this lens makes perfect sense. The box cameras usually only focused from about a meter to infinity, so using a shorter lens would enable the photographer to move closer to make "photographs of heads"...

[Ole]

Yes she did and she is the shooter to whom I refer.

Glad to hear my memory isn't gone completely - even if I can only remember events from before I was born

[jd callow]

The Kodak Museum has a Jamin Paris c.1860 Portrait lens with Waterhouse stops, about f4/21in focus with 5in dia lenses.

We were there they don't have it.

(Mrs Cameron also used a 30in Dallmeyer RR on 15x12in).

See my other thread

and thanks for the post...

[jd callow]

It was French made originally I believe - Mrs. Callow

[Ole]

It was French made originally I believe - Mrs. Callow

What was????

[jd callow]

The lens was..

As you can see the junior research assistant wears egg for a reason -- mr callow

[Ole]

Yes - since Jamin made his lenses at 14 Rue Chapon, Paris, it's a safe bet that the lens was French. Not only originally, but all the way...