Are the older 165 mm Angulon's coated? Is the coverage the same as a Super Angulon at F22? I'm looking for a small wide angle lens for 8X10 field photography.

-- tim kimbler (gandy2@gte.net), September 24, 2001

Answers

Rudolf Kingslake in "A History of the Photographic Lens" says that the Angulon was introduced in 1930. A lens from that era would not have been coated. Probably all of the post-WWII ones are at least single coated, certainly by the mid-1950s. You can get dates from the serial number table provided by Schneider: http://www.schneideroptics.com/large/serial.htm. Also take a look at http://www.schneideroptics.com/large/vintage/largeformat/large1.htm. Schneider lists the coverage of the 165 mm Angulon as 300 mm diameter at f16, of the 165 mm Super Angulon as 394 mm. The image quality and illumination at a given angle off-axis will not be as good as a Super Angulon. There is a reason that the industry has switched to Super Angulon type designs. On the other hand, great photographs were made before the Super Angulon existed and the performance might be satisfactory for your purposes, esp. if you are making contact prints.

-- Michael Briggs (MichaelBriggs@Earthlink.net), September 25, 2001.

With great success and great quality I used in the past a W.A.Dagor of 6 1/2" (162.5mm focal length). Although it was f8 or f9 it was very small and very contrasty. I would love to be able to shoot 8x10" again. But I am limited to 4x5". If you could find one of these I am sure you would be very pleased with it's quality (resolution)and size.

-- sid crandall (headshotz_4u@yahoo.com), September 25, 2001.

Thanks, what about the 159mm Wollensak, are they coated? Is there a web site to verify age by serial number?

-- tim kimbler (gandy2@gte.net), September 25, 2001.

You might want to look out for a 141mm or 183mm Protar V (not to be confused with the Protar VII convertibles). The Protar V was a wide angle lens. It covers 8x10 with ease (especially once you stop down a bit - they are meant to be stopped down to f:32 or smaller for use). The lens list in Henney and Dudley indicates coverage of 100deg. They are not coated but you might prefer it because it only consists of two cemented doublets and so coatings are less of an issue. I have a 141 and it covers 8x10 without too much trouble. It is incredibly tiny - an 8x10 backpacker's dream. They are fully corrected for color. Bausch & Lomb made the lens under license from Zeiss. Good luck. DJ

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), September 25, 2001.

Coated Wollensak lenses should have a circled W with the rest of the lens information. The later models were called Raptar instead of Velostigmat.

-- Chuck Pere (jcpere@aol.com), September 26, 2001.