Grandmother of the Bessa III Wide, made ~1955 in Braunschweig
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johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
Great article, great camera!
Where did you find it?
Where did you find it?
Retrotech68
Established
Amazing! Really interesting prototype. Thanks for posting! As the previous poster, I am curious on where did you find this treasure...
Alex
Alex
citizen99
Well-known
Magnificent!
Why, oh why, did this not go into production!?
(Answer: "There's insufficient perceived market demand for it, Sir | you're fired!" ).
But it might have found a niche market amongst professional users; the Brooks Veriwide and Envoy Wide Angle spring to mind. I would really have liked to have one of these, had they gone into production.
As it is, I have had to make a cruder functional near-equivalent from a bakelite camera and f/6.8 65mm Angulon.
ANGULON BAKELITE CAMERA SPECIAL - View 1 by johnnyh4, on Flickr
Additional: After reading the lens information given in the OP's link ...
It's interesting to compare the 64mm f/6.8 Taylor-Hobson Envoy with the Ultragon. According to the Lens Vade Mecum the Envoy is 4-glass gauss design. It is tiny, like the Ultragon, but instead of being around a Size "000" (?) shutter, the Envoy is a module with its own aperture iris, and sits forward of the shutter blades in a Size 0 shutter (it is found with Epsilon, Compur(/Rapid), Prontor, Agifold... shutters). The rear of the Size 0 shutter is machined down as far as possible to minimise vignetting. The Envoy has much less aberration at the edges than the (older) Angulon 65mm f/6.8 design (I have both).
Why, oh why, did this not go into production!?
(Answer: "There's insufficient perceived market demand for it, Sir | you're fired!" ).
But it might have found a niche market amongst professional users; the Brooks Veriwide and Envoy Wide Angle spring to mind. I would really have liked to have one of these, had they gone into production.
As it is, I have had to make a cruder functional near-equivalent from a bakelite camera and f/6.8 65mm Angulon.
ANGULON BAKELITE CAMERA SPECIAL - View 1 by johnnyh4, on Flickr
Additional: After reading the lens information given in the OP's link ...
It's interesting to compare the 64mm f/6.8 Taylor-Hobson Envoy with the Ultragon. According to the Lens Vade Mecum the Envoy is 4-glass gauss design. It is tiny, like the Ultragon, but instead of being around a Size "000" (?) shutter, the Envoy is a module with its own aperture iris, and sits forward of the shutter blades in a Size 0 shutter (it is found with Epsilon, Compur(/Rapid), Prontor, Agifold... shutters). The rear of the Size 0 shutter is machined down as far as possible to minimise vignetting. The Envoy has much less aberration at the edges than the (older) Angulon 65mm f/6.8 design (I have both).
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thegman
Veteran
Very nice. I just recently purchased a Horseman Convertible as my new wide angle medium format option. A 62mm lens on 6x7 is wide-ish, and it's pretty small and works nicely.
Despite their rarity, they don't seem to have caught the eye of collectors, so pretty reasonable price.
Despite their rarity, they don't seem to have caught the eye of collectors, so pretty reasonable price.
Sonnar2
Well-known
I have to add some technical data:
weight 950g (as opposed to 1100g of the Bessa III W)
But of course: no meter, no AE.
filter size 30.5mm
shutter speeds B, 1-1/500s, fully synchronized. some rolls Kodak Ektar 100 waiting, speeds will be tested soon.
weight 950g (as opposed to 1100g of the Bessa III W)
But of course: no meter, no AE.
filter size 30.5mm
shutter speeds B, 1-1/500s, fully synchronized. some rolls Kodak Ektar 100 waiting, speeds will be tested soon.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Looking forward to seeing the pictures! (And you still haven't told us where you got it....)
citizen99
Well-known
I see, from the article linked in the first posting, that A W Tronnier also designed the Ultron lens. I had one in a Vitessa, it was excellent, so I think that the Ultragon has an excellent pedigree 🙂 .
raid
Dad Photographer
This is super cool.
Thanks.
Thanks.
