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Reiner
Tinkerer
Username: Reiner
Post Number: 24
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 02:44 pm: | 
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I have recently bought a cheap old 6x9cm folder just because it had a Compur-Rapid shutter. The lens is a Velostigmat. From some Google searches I leared that it was produced by Wollensak in Rochester,USA. Strange, a german camera of the late 30ties with an American lens on it.
Does somebody know the Velostigmat? Is it a 3 element design or a 4 element Tessar like design? It is very well perserved. |
Peterw
Tinkerer
Username: Peterw
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 - 04:08 pm: |
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Hi Reiner,
The Velostigmat was a lens name used by the Wollensak Optical Company, Rochester, NY for many years. The first Velostigmat in 1909 was a Tessar-type layout. A few of the later ones were triplets, and a few were six-element Gauss layout, but the majority were four-glass, Tessar-type layouts.
Not many Wollensak lenses were seen in Europe, mainly because of the high import duties, so there were many European (mainly German) lens makers who could undercut them in price. Also, against the names Zeiss and Tessar, the Velostigmat didn't really stand a marketing chance.
I know of only one other company that used the name Velostigmat for a short time, and that was Franka in Germany during WWI, but whether that was a co-incidence, licenced by Wollensak or just plain name pinching I don't know. I don't know the age of your camera, but just possibly it might have a Franka-made Velostigmat.
PeterW |
Reiner
Tinkerer
Username: Reiner
Post Number: 25
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 17, 2006 - 03:23 am: |
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Hi Peter,
thank you for your reply. In the meantime I have identified the camera. It does not have any marque of producer indication and it is a simple 6x9 folder of the 30ties as many others are. It seems to be a "Rona" made by "Kamerafabrik Dresden" a rarely encounter German maker. If you google for "Rona" and "Velostigmat" you will find it on a polish web side. It is identical except the leathering and the shutter.
In the meantime I have also taken the lens apart. The front element and the middle element including the focus thread unscrews as one part - quite nice. I had to take this element apart to clean the inner surfaces. The lens mounting is quite well made and the lens is the best preserved of that area I ever saw. I can not definitely say wether it is a 3-lens or a 4 lens design because 2 lenses of a 4-lens-Tessar design are cemented together. But I assume that it is a 4-lens design. Together with the well preserved and working Compur-Rapid it is a nice combination. The rest of the camera is nothing special but good enough to do some trial picts. The bellows seems to be light tight. |
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