I have a 85mm one of these in a Rapax shutter in a Ciroflex it kind of looks like it is coated and has a circle W on the lens. Does this compare to an Ektar? and is it any good? Russ

Russ....read this old thread. Fred. http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?topic=1748&forum=10

Thanks Fred, still looks like the history of this lens is a little gray. Russ

Quote:

On 2004-02-01 21:18, jdman wrote: I have a 85mm one of these in a Rapax shutter in a Ciroflex it kind of looks like it is coated and has a circle W on the lens. Does this compare to an Ektar? and is it any good? Russ

Russ, it is a tessar type and somewhat of a long normal lens for 6x6.

Comparison to Ektar? Hard to say. On the one hand, many people who post here love their Optars (= Velostigmats) and say they are as good as equivalent Ektars. On the other, Richard Knoppow who posts a lot on usenet and a little here and who knows more than many of us insists that an Optar has to be stopped down more than the equivalent Ektar to get the same image quality.

Richard's main complaint is that Optars (= Velostigmats) have worse coma than tessar-type Ektars. This is an off-axis aberration, afflicts the outer part of the image. Stopping down reduces it.

Since your Ciroflex's Velostigmat is long for 6x6, the worst part of the image it produces is off the edge of the film. So use your Ciroflex and see if you like the results. You probably shouldn't use it wide open, ought to take a set of test shots (from tripod, same subject) at f/11, f/16, f/22.

As I said, some people swear by, others swear at, Raptars (= Velostigmats).

Cheers,

Dan