THE GEAR
Here are the two lenses I'm currently using for this project. The first is a Kodak lens and shutter from a No. 1-A Junior Autographic camera, circa 1914 (pictured at right adapted to my digital camera). Kodak used a variety of lenses on their folding bellows cameras during this time including the Anastigmat (what I have), Rapid Rectilinear, and simple Meniscus lenses. The 130mm is fairly long lens on 35mm cameras, but it's excellent for getting details and actually makes a pretty decent macro lens. Click here to see how it works. |
 |
Many people are surprised at the image quality these lenses produce. Unlike modern lenses, these are just raw glass with no coatings applied. What this means is that they are very, very low contrast, and somewhat prone to flare when the sun hits them. They are very sharp though. Because they project a huge image circle, when adapted to a 35mm (or APS) size camera only the very center of the image is used--the so called "sweet spot" of the lens where image quality is at it's highest. They are also very slow, being f7.7 wide open. i've used them for hand-held shooting in very bright sunlight, but for anything short of that a tripod and remote release are pretty much required. |
|
The second lens is from a small Vest Pocket Kodak, circa 1915. Another Anastigmat, this one is different from the first lens in a couple of ways. First, it's a lot smaller. The Vest Pocket Kodak (or VPK) is a pretty small camera--about the same size as a modern point and shoot digital. They were really a pretty amazing little camera for the time. Not quite small enough for a vest pocket, it would definetly fit in the back pocket of your pants. The second difference is in how it's focused. While the first lens uses bellows movement to focus, this VPK uses front cell focusing. This means the front lens element is moved back and fourth to get proper focus. There are advantages and disadvantages to this...on the plus side, it's more compact and has a fixed register distance. The down side is that they generally don't perform as well as a bellows mounted lens. Because of it's small size, it's also actually pretty hard to get my fingers on that front element and turn it. It also moves a very short distance to focus, meaning small movements make big changes. It's considerably more difficult to focus than it's bigger brother. The main reason I chose this lens for the project is the shorter focal length. At 84mm, it's quite a bit wider than the larger lens.
Both lenses have optical performance that will probably surprise you. |
|
A note on building these:
For anyone who sees this, and wants to try something similar, finding these lenses isn't that hard. Check ebay, and you'll find a lot of them for sale. The only thing I would ask is that if you do want to try this, buy a camera that is already damaged or missing parts and get your lens from that. These cameras aren't that expensive even in very good condition, but it doesn't make any sense to ruin one in nice condition when you don't have to. Kodak made millions of these, but they don't make them any more...and when these are gone, they're gone forever. I bought the Junior lens just as a part...only the lens and board were there, the rest of the camera was long gone. The VPK was badly damaged when I got it. Both lenses could actually be mounted back in their original cameras without any problems. Anyway, if you want to try this go for it...just don't ruin a perfectly good camera to do it.
|
