Posted 10 years ago
rniederman
(346 items)
Here's another “What’s this accessory?” post. This isn’t all that difficult and those of you familiar with ‘old school’ photography have an advantage ... or maybe not.
One of the reasons for these ‘mystery’ posts is to give the collector community an appreciation of some strange and wonderful accessories that have been around since the invention of photography. Some are incredibly odd and work. Others are the equivalent of ‘snake oil.’ Anyhow, I’ve put this on a camera and it works to a certain extent.
You’re looking at a rather unusual accessory. The item is quite rare and as far as I know this is it ... no others. It’s a nicely lacquered brass tube with a lens at one end. The tangential geared knob can be turned to extend (or retract) the overall length of the tube. This should be enough to give everyone an easy starting point for guesses. (Actually, the CW crowd has proven to be pretty sharp and I expect this to be solved rather quickly.)
The key here is to figure out why this device was invented and sold. In other words, what does the dang thing do and why would a photographer be interested in this?
Clue (because you’ll ask anyhow) ... stamped into the tube is “U. Nehring. NY.” Google searches will uncover a couple patents and advertisements. In summary, you’ll learn the company makes optical accessory stuff that weren’t always proven to work.
As with my previous ‘mystery accessory’ posts, anyone who guesses correctly will have my admiration and that of your CW peers. And once this is figured out, I’ll post an image of the doohickey as it is supposed to work and explain.
PS: As always, wild comical speculation is encouraged! (You don’t disappoint.)
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Not bad ... it took only 12 hours to figure out what this accessory is and does. It was advertised as an 'ampliscope' (whatever that means). Placed between the lens/shutter and the camera body, it converts a normal lens into a poor quality telephoto. Modern versions were marketed and popular in the 1960s and 1970s as "tele-extenders".
The camera shown here is called "Lightning" (how can you not love the name). It was sold by Shuneman & Evans of St. Paul, Minn. The Nehring and camera were two separate acquisitions from a long time ago, but as you can see the accessory fits nicely.
This reminds me of when I worked on surveyors instruments - for focusing?
Hi aghcollect and thanks! While I could say that it does focusing to a certain extent, that feature is secondary to its primary purpose.
Adjustable aperture lens.
Ulrich's Wide Angle Periscope Lens?
Thanks, f64imager!
I missed the part were you mentioned the "extend (or retract) the overall length of the tube".
So with that in mind, a zoom lens.
David & eye4 ... good observations but this is not a zoom lens. But as you see it has a lens. Yet you're on the right track.
Spotting lens, like on the modern telescopes.
I think view finder would have been a better term.
Spotting lens ... no.
Lens filter ... no.
Viewfinder ... no.
Stick with the concept of a zoom lens.
- a telescopic 'lens extension'
I think I saw the photo the piece set up in the W&BCCgroup
And a few moments go I think I saw a Wide Angle Periscope Lens too.
im going to take a stab at this and im sure im way off , could this be a mirco lens of some kind? im just throwing out ideas or a close up lens?
vetraio50 got it! This was made by Nehring as a "special tube for tele-photography." It is mounted between the camera and lens/shutter to create a telephoto lens. While it does increase the magnification of an image, the quality of the image suffers quite a bit.
Sean ... thanks for looking. You were on the right track. Except this is the opposite of a micro lens.
Dallmeyer produced one in England, called "The Adon", a title which is self-explanatory I guess.
Thanks!
surfdub66
racer4four
vetraio50
Thanks!
Sean
AzTom
Thanks!
eye4beauty
Eric
Thanks, gargoylecollector!
Thanks, Manikin!
Thanks, Michael!
Found this while combing through the Scientific American archives (1899)
Telephotography
https://archive.org/stream/scientific-american-1899-04-01/scientific-american-v80-n13-1899-04-01#page/n9/mode/2up
A zoom lens! lol I have a pencil sharpener that looks very much like this does :)
David ... good information and a great read! Thanks for the link.
Thanks again, Manikin.
Hi shareurpassion ... not actually a zoom lens but a device to increase magnification (as described in the 1899 Scientific American article). Let's see your pencil sharpener!
Thanks, blunderbuss2!
Thanks, surfdub66!
Thanks!
packrat-place
inky