A piece of Voigtlander history

[Gordon Coale]

Voigtlander lenses go back to the beginning of photography. I picked up this 1869 9" Voigtlander Petzval for my view camera but thought I would share this piece of history. It was a Voigtlander lens designed by Joseph Petzval in 1840 that made commercial photography possible.

I have a Flicker set with more pictures and links to the history of this lens design: An 1869 Voigtlander Petzval

 

[Sonnar Brian]

That is some lens.

It's easy to understand why Mr. K wanted to bring back the name "Voigtlander" to photography.

 

[radiocemetery]

Thanks for posting this and the links, Gordon. Tangible history here. I like the Zorki Standard too.

Steve

 

[Gordon Coale]

It's interesting to to think of the world when this lens was manufactured. From Wikipedia:

March 4 – Ulysses S. Grant succeeds Andrew Johnson as the 18th President of the United States of America.

May 10 – The Transcontinental Railroad is completed in Promontory, Utah.

May 15 – Woman's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.

June 1 – The Cincinnati Red Stockings open the baseball season as the first fully professional baseball team.

November 6 – The first game of American Football between two American colleges is played. Rutgers University defeats Princeton University 6–4 in a forerunner to American football and College football.

November 17 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.

Born

March 18 – Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

October 2 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader

November 22 – André Gide, French writer and Nobel laureate

December 31 – Henri Matisse, French painter

 

[payasam]

Knew about Petzval, of course, but didn't know the Voigtlander connection.

Strange frame-and-balls finder.

 

[dcsang]

Hey... can you mount that on the M9 and if so, does it need to be coded? 😉

That's a honkin' lens.. but then again.. view camera's aren't exactly small 🙂

Cheers,
Dave

 

[paulfish4570]

so interesting. thanks.

 

[Gordon Coale]

payasam -- The "Strange frame-and-balls finder." is an Ikodot. A clever redesign of the classic wireframe viewer. 100% view and as bright as it gets!

 

[goamules]

Great portrait lens, I have two 7" and one 12" monster like yours. The voigtlanders were top dollar lens all through the 19th century.

 

[naturepix]

I love these old lenses. It's gorgeous. A few years ago I picked up this old tailboard camera, which dates from about 1895. The lens, which was modified along the way, appears to have been manufactured by Voigtlander in about 1845. I think these old brass lenses are incredible.

 

[Pico]

Very nice!

Here's another old Voigtlander: http://www.digoliardi.net

 

[Nikkor AIS]

Very interesting. I would love to see some shots taken with this lens. Care to share some sample images?

Gregory

 

[Gordon Coale]

Gregory - I will drop some by when I get some. The first order of business is to drill a really big hole in a metal lens board. I have a hole saw on the way for that job.

I bought this to use as a portrait lens. I planned on using open flash -- remove the lens cap, trigger the flash, replace the lens cap. Pointing it at something else would require a shutter and the Packard shutters I have are way too small. Your request got me thinking how I am to shutter this lens. Off to eBay to see what was offered. Lo and behold!, a synced Packard shutter of the correct size was for sale at a reasonable price. It's mine now. When I get it I will have to figure out how to mount it.

Along with the hole saw to drill a hole to mount the big Voigtlander will be a hole saw to drill a hole in a lens board so that I can mount a micro four thirds to M42 adapter to it. Then I will be able to mount the lens board with the adapter to the back of the view camera and easily mount my Panasonic G1 to it turning it into a stitching back. The first shots with this setup will be with the 1869 Voigltander Petzval. I will post those, too.

 

[Nikkor AIS]

That is just too cool, can't wait to see some images.

Gregory

 

[rxmd]

Does it couple to the rangefinder? 🙂

 

[charjohncarter]

At first I thought it was part of a tuba, nice lens and nice flickr.

 

[bmattock]

For those who might be interested, I recommend "History of Photography," by Joseph Maria Eder. First published in the early 1900's, it is still occasionally republished from time to time; my paperback edition was published in 1978.

The author was a contemporary of the companies and men who created the craft, art, and science of photography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Maria_Eder

As such, he has a unique perspective to offer that is not seen in the usual 'History of Photography' books. He had great attention to detail and minutia, which is now lost to the ordinary historian, since he was there at the time and knew many of the persons involved personally. He has much to say about the Voigtlanders, from Friedrich Ritter von Voigtlander to Johann Friedrich to Peter Wilhelm Friedrich von Voigtlander. He speaks extensively about Josef Max Petzval (Hungarian, born to German parents). He invented the Petzval lens, and entrusted an optician, Peter Friedrich Voigtlander of Vienna to build it. Apparently, there some misunderstandings, and there were a number of disputes between them over the years.

As an interesting side-note, the sheer number of mathematical calculations necessary to compute the lens was such that Petzval solicited the aid of Archduke Ferdinand, who put several soldier-mathematicians under Petzval and his assistant Reisinger's command to do nothing but run calculations for the lens.

Another interesting side-note: the formula for the Petzval lens would have been lost to history; as both Petzval and Voigtlander, for various reasons, chose not publish same; but for the lawsuits between them required the original formula to be disclosed to the court, and hence to the public. It was from court records that others retrieved the formula after the patents had expired.

 

[Gordon Coale]

bmattock - Many thanks for the Eder tip! I just ordered a used copy. Some of them get pretty pricey! I got the cheapest one.

 

[bmattock]

bmattock - Many thanks for the Eder tip! I just ordered a used copy. Some of them get pretty pricey! I got the cheapest one.

I had it on my eBay watch list for a long time, and yes, prices were high. I just kept waiting and eventually got one cheap. I hope you will find it as useful as I have; it's literally page after page of deep dives into the history of photography as it was happening or very soon thereafter. Much of it with a European focus, since Eder was in Germany, but there is also plenty on the American and UK history too. One of my best resources, a real 'go-to' book.

 

[Gordon Coale]

Mr. Wigwam -- I love history written by those that saw it. I love how this forum shows you ways to spend your money that you never would have imagined!!