Do you go to stores to find the lenses Ian, or are you rummaging through car boot and antique sales?
Ian,...can ye no talk English...?
(With a translation for Brian
)
The 1939 12" f6.8 Dagor, made by C.P. Goerz American Optical Company, of East 34th Street, New York, came with a 10"x8" Agfa Ansco Commercial View Camera, the first owner taught at the Clarence White School of Photography. I bought the camera with the lens from a US photography professor who never used the lens himself. it had been returned for factory coating after WWII.
The f6.3 13.5cm Doppel Anastigmat is a Goerz-Ihagee lens (Ihagee made Exacta cmaeras), it hasn't arrived yet - it was a spur of the moment Ebay purchase last night. It was the top of the range lens offered on Ihagee 9x12 cameras.
The Dagor design is quite old 1892 when the
Doppel
Anastigmat Series III lens was introduced by C.P.
Goe
rz of Berlin, the name was shortened to Dagor in 1904. The designer Emil Von Höegh had offered the design to Carl Zeiss who turned it down so he took it to Goerz instead. Ironically C.P. Goerz, Berlin, became partn of Zeiss Ikon in 1926 so Zeiss then had the rights to manufacture the Dagor but only made a few.
C.P. Goerz, American Optical Co had been a subsidiary of Goerz (Berlin) and was founded in 1895 by Carl Goerz's sons William & Otto, they began making lenses there for the US market, becoming an independent company in 1905. The US company became part of Schneider in 1972 and some modern Dagors where made by Kern in Switzerland.
Dagors have a cult status, they are sharp and have good coverage (important with plate cameras) and due to their design 6 elements in two cemented pairs less prone to flare than most other older lenses. There's only 4 air/glasss surfaces (2 internal) a Tessar has 6 (4 internal). We take Multi-coating for granted these days which almost totally eliminates flare even with zoom lenses.
Here's some images from the 10x8 and 12" Dagor
Small images don't really do the lens justice.
The Lancaster butchered lens came from a camera fair.
Ian
It was dirt cheap and it's bits glued together, however the glass is from a Petzval and it turns out OK.
except I just bought a 135mm Dagor in a Compur and I love the quality of these iconic lenses. My main 10x8 lens is a 12" f6.8 coated Dagor (AM Opt).
