Stewartry Trinol 105mm L39 lens

[moonwrack]

The Stewartry Trinol 105mm f3.5 lens in Leica Thread mount seems to appear on auction sites in several styles/finishes. Are there any reviews/descriptions available that deal with these points, as well as performance, etc?

 

[raydm6]

First I have heard of this lens. I haven't found any review or performance sources (it is mentioned a few times here on RFF) but It prompted me to search on 105mm viewfinders and came across this one (matched with its lens). I wonder what folks used for a viewfinder for this lens?

Kyoei Acall 3.5/105mm with viewfinder and hood - Collectcamera

this coated kyoei acall 3.5/105mm lens with hood and viewfinder is in beautiful condition. only very minor traces of use. optically also in great shape. it comes with the rear lens cap, viewfinder, hood and cap on the hood. here seen on a leica 2f (camer

www.collectcamera.com

 

[raydm6]

Found this:

DETAILS OF TRINOL LENS

I have a Trinol anastigmat 105mm f3.5 lens head [serial number 036668] Does anyone have details about this lens including date of manufacture, coating of lens, comparative 'quality of lens' [by review??], etc regards Tony

www.photrio.com

National Optical Co., Leicester, UK.(NOCO)
This firm was a daughter factory for TTH of Leicester during the WW2 when there was a need to split production capacity as a precaution against destruction.

Trinol f3.5 105mm This was a triplet (TRIplet National Optical Ltd) carrying TTH patent details
which was sold to Stewartry of Glasgow to mount for cameras such as M39x26 and Exakta. It may well have
been originally a wartime lens design, possible for a 6x6cm dial recording camera, and is of good but not
outstanding performance. Early versions at Nos 034,94x, 035,04x, 35,05x, 035,32x, 035,62x are not coated,
later ones have a hard coating at Nos 035,49x and 035,78x- note that there is overlap, possible due to parts
being in hand when coating started. [It was definitely aimed at Leica sales as the Reid was only demonstrated
in 1947, and no bodies sold for some time by when Trinol sales were a thing of the past.] Lenses for Exakta
tend to be late in production, which seems to have stopped rather suddenly. Lensheads carry Pat. No. Brit.
566,698 and Canadian 435,629/1946. Some lensheads were later sold separately about 1956, and No036,50x
was noted on a Novoflex bellows for Wrayflex. One problem is that these serial numbers do not seem to fit
with either the prewar uncoated or the postwar coated cine lenses- ie a separate series was used. (see the f2
below and the f3.5/50mm cine.)

TTH-Taylor, Taylor and Hobson, Ltd., Leicester, England.

And this:

Trinol Anastigmat 105/3,5 L39

Trinol Anastigmat 105/3,5 L39 :: Lenses :: Home :: Manual Focus Lenses

forum.mflenses.com

The lens part is made by National Optical Company, based in Leicester. Lens Vademecum said it is a daughter factory for Taylor, Taylor & Hobson(TTH). A very well corrected triplet with smooth bokeh.

 

[pgk]

I have had one. Its an interesting lens in that it is 'Made in Scotland' and one of very few lenses to have such engraving. The optics were supplied by TTH who appear to have retained their National Optical wartime 'subsidiary' designation for the lens, and the mount was then machined in Glasgow at the Stewartry factory. In my experince performance is fairly mediocre unfortunately. There seems to be quite a lot of variation in finish perhaps as the lens production evolved with not a vast amount of consistent. I wonder if the mounts were batch built and finished accordingly? Somewhere I have found so old adverts (try a web search) which show that Stewartry produced a number of varied photographic items before seemingly ceasing such production somewhere in the later 1950s I think. In all honesty its probably of greater interest in historic photographic terms than as a usable lens - there are equally as good or better, cheaper similar lenses available.

 

[Coldkennels]

First I have heard of this lens. I haven't found any review or performance sources (it is mentioned a few times here on RFF) but It prompted me to search on 105mm viewfinders and came across this one (matched with its lens). I wonder what folks used for a viewfinder for this lens?

The VIDOM has a line to set it to 105mm; I've kept one around for years on the off-chance that I ever buy a Mountain Elmar for that sole reason.

 

[dexdog]

First I have heard of this lens. I haven't found any review or performance sources (it is mentioned a few times here on RFF) but It prompted me to search on 105mm viewfinders and came across this one (matched with its lens). I wonder what folks used for a viewfinder for this lens?

I would use any of the common 100mm viewfinders, such as the ones made for Canon RF. So close that framing would barely be impacted.