Old Dr. Krugener Preminar Lens

External Since: Jun 23, 2004 Posts: 1182

I've just acquired a lens that I know vritually nothing about, and wondered
if anyone could enlighten me...

Around the bezel is written:

"Dr. R. Krugener's. Doppel Anastigmat. Preminar. F = 128. 1:6,8."

It is indeed an f6.8, and the focal length does seem to be about 128mm.
Apertures are marked as: 6.8; 9; 12; 18; 25; and 36 with a twelve bladed
diaphragm. It's mounted in a shutter with speeds set by a sliding lever:
25; 50; 100; Z; and O. 'O' seems to work like 'T' normally does, but I
haven't worked out 'Z' yet - it seems to produce a speed that is,
subjectively, a bit faster than that for the marked 100. The shutter has
just two actuating levers, one to cock it and one to release. It's in
rather nice black lacquered brass and nickel plate, and has a roundel at 12
o'clock (where the dial would be if it was dial set, which it isn't) that
bears a monogram that seems to be " D r K R " - which makes sense.

At first I thought the shutter was a compound as there are two air cylinders
at the top, behind the roundel mentioned above. However, on looking closer
it seems these are for an air operated release: the smaller cylinder has a
screw thread for an air 'hose' and this feeds the larger cylinder which has
a small piston that emerges to press on a small lever that fires the
shutter. Very neat.

Looking at the ground glass image it looks quite nice, and has a huge circle
of illumination, though sharpness falls off quite fast - I suspect it would
illuminate 4x5 easily (haven't tried yet) but would probably have soft
corners on anything much larger than 6x9. I'll certainly shoot some film
with it to find out, but so far I've only just looked at the GG image.

I know Krugener (There's actually an umlaut over the 'U') was making cameras
in the late 1800s, and that Huttig, Krugener & Wunsche was one of the
companies that went into ICA (in 1909) and so eventually became part of
Zeiss Ikon, hence the Preminar name being used on some of their lenses. But
that's about all I know on this subject.

Anyone know any more? I'm rather intrigued by this, as it is obviously
quite early, and obviously very well made.

Thanks,

Peter

--

http://www.bard-hill.co.uk

External Since: Jul 01, 2004 Posts: 1173

"Bandicoot" <"insert_handle_here"@techemail.com> wrote in
message news:1106148334.22824.0@lotis.uk.clara.net...
> I've just acquired a lens that I know vritually nothing
> about, and wondered
> if anyone could enlighten me...
>
> Around the bezel is written:
>
> "Dr. R. Krugener's. Doppel Anastigmat. Preminar. F = 128.
> 1:6,8."
>
> It is indeed an f6.8, and the focal length does seem to be
> about 128mm.
> Apertures are marked as: 6.8; 9; 12; 18; 25; and 36 with a
> twelve bladed
> diaphragm. It's mounted in a shutter with speeds set by a
> sliding lever:
> 25; 50; 100; Z; and O. 'O' seems to work like 'T'
> normally does, but I
> haven't worked out 'Z' yet - it seems to produce a speed
> that is,
> subjectively, a bit faster than that for the marked 100.
> The shutter has
> just two actuating levers, one to cock it and one to
> release. It's in
> rather nice black lacquered brass and nickel plate, and
> has a roundel at 12
> o'clock (where the dial would be if it was dial set, which
> it isn't) that
> bears a monogram that seems to be " D r K R " - which
> makes sense.
>
> At first I thought the shutter was a compound as there are
> two air cylinders
> at the top, behind the roundel mentioned above. However,
> on looking closer
> it seems these are for an air operated release: the
> smaller cylinder has a
> screw thread for an air 'hose' and this feeds the larger
> cylinder which has
> a small piston that emerges to press on a small lever that
> fires the
> shutter. Very neat.
>
> Looking at the ground glass image it looks quite nice, and
> has a huge circle
> of illumination, though sharpness falls off quite fast - I
> suspect it would
> illuminate 4x5 easily (haven't tried yet) but would
> probably have soft
> corners on anything much larger than 6x9. I'll certainly
> shoot some film
> with it to find out, but so far I've only just looked at
> the GG image.
>
> I know Krugener (There's actually an umlaut over the 'U')
> was making cameras
> in the late 1800s, and that Huttig, Krugener & Wunsche was
> one of the
> companies that went into ICA (in 1909) and so eventually
> became part of
> Zeiss Ikon, hence the Preminar name being used on some of
> their lenses. But
> that's about all I know on this subject.
>
> Anyone know any more? I'm rather intrigued by this, as it
> is obviously
> quite early, and obviously very well made.
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Peter
>
> --
>
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bard-hill.co.uk</font" target="_blank">http://www.bard-hill.co.uk</font</a>>
>
My guess is that its a variation of the Dagor. Try
counting reflections from the cells. Use a small flashlight.
Glass-air surfaces are very bright, cemented surfaces are
dim. A Dagor or similar will have two bright and two dim
reflections in each cell.

--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk RemoveThis @ix.netcom.com