Century-old Lens Still Making Pictures
What’s so special about the photo above? Photographer Timur
Civan snapped that photo using a modern digital camera with a vintage
104-year-old Wollensak lens.
Back in 2010, Timur wrote:
He found in a box of random parts, hidden inside anther lens this
gem. A circa 1908 ( possibly earlier) 35mm lens. Still functioning,
mostly brass, and not nearly as much dust or fungus as one would think
after sitting in a box for over a hundred years. This lens is a piece
of motion picture history, and at this point rare beyond words. So i
say to him, "Wow… what do you have in mind?" he smiles,
and says, ( in the thickest russian accent you can imagine) " i
can make this fit EF you know…" my eye twinkled, and then 6 nail
biting hours later,he had it finished. My Russian Lens technician is
a mad scientist and he took what sounded like an angle grinder to the
lens to make its clear the flange distance and the mirror……. This
lens’ value is unclear. its sort of on loan. It’s the only lens of its
kind on a 5D… or any digital for that matter.
