Laack
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| Laack 16.5 cm f/4.5 lens identified simply as 'Doppel Anastigmat', for a large format (probably 4×5 inch) camera. Images by Ladenla (Image rights) |
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| Laack 5 cm f/2.7 Dialytar on a 3x4 cm camera by Glunz image by Tony Kemplen (Image rights) |
Julius Laack & Soehne was a camera and lens maker, based in the German town Rathenow. McKeown[1] lists a ferrotype camera from 1895, and a number of folding plate cameras. Laack lenses were used on smaller-format cameras at least up to the Second World War. In the time of the German Democratic Republic the company became state-owned and was part of VEB Rathenower Optische Werke (ROW), together with Emil Busch and Nitsche and Gunthe.[2]
Laack lenses, especially the Pololyt, appear on other companies' cameras including the Altissa Altiflex and Altix, Welta Reflekta and KW Pilot Super. Laack also made cine lenses.
Cameras
- Ferrotype camera, c1895
- Merkur. 10×15 cm folding plate camera. Polyxentar f/6.8 lens and Koilos shutter.
- Padie. 9×12 cm vertical folding plate camera. Pololyt f/6.8 lens and Rulex shutter.
Padie "Luxus" D
- Omfa Muenchen (Munich) Doppel-Anastigmat Correktar f4.5 135mm and Rulex shutter[3]
- Laack 4,5 Doppel Anastigmat in a Rulex shutter
- Sport-Camera. Folding press camera with focal plane shutter. 6.5×9, 9×12 or 10×15 cm. Dialytar lens (various maximum apertures).
- Tropical. 9×12 cm tropical folding plate camera. Pololyt or Dialytar lens and Compur or Ibsor shutter.
- Wanderer. 6.5×9 cm folding plate camera
- Meteor
Lenses
- Dialytar. This name was used on several lenses of different design and maximum aperture. Greenleaf[4] lists three designs; one is a simple triplet, one (Series T!) a Tessar-type, and one a four-element lens like a Tessar, but with the two parts of the rear group not cemented, and with an air space.
- Doppel-Polynar. A simple double-anastigmat, with two cemented doublets.[4]
- Pololyt. A simple triplet.
- Polyplan.[5]
- Polyxentar. A double-anastigmat; either composed of two cemented triplets (f/6.8) or of two triplets with only the outermost pair of each cemented (f/4.5).[4]
- Regulyt. A simple triplet.
- Schnellarbeiter. This lens appears on Ferrotype cameras by more than one maker.[6]
Notes
- ↑ McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p592.
- ↑ Die Geschichte der optischen Industrie in Rathenow II (History of the optical industry in Rathenow part II) at Kompetenzzentrum Optik Rathenow (Rathenow Optics Centre)
- ↑ Photoshop Guru
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Greenleaf, Allen R. (1950) Photographic Optics. Macmillan, New York. pp82 & 201-8.
- ↑ 13.5 cm f/7.2 Polyplan on an unidentified low-price folding plate camera, in Swedish photographic forum Fotosidan.
- ↑ Ertee 'cannon' camera by Romain Talbot, for 'button' ferrotypes, with Laack 6 cm f/3.5 Schnellarbeiter lens, in a past Christie's auction catalogue.
Links
- Laack 9×12 cm tropical camera with 13.5 cm Poloyt and Rulex shutter, in a past Breker auction listing (on the left of the picture).
- 1 inch f/1.3 Cine-Polyxentar cine lens, 1930s (as estimated by owner) in Japanese blog Hubbell's Photo Leaf.
- K.W. Box Reflex with a 10.5 cm f/4.5 Pololyt, at Early Photography
- Laack 13.5 cm enlarging lens at ksmt.com, the website of a Japanese lens collector (he has tried the lens for photography with a DSLR; example photos are linked from this page).
