I have a Goerz 14 in. Trigor. It has settings from 11-64.A large attachable electronic shutter plate, it is said to be made in Switzerland but everyone tells me it can't be. It came from a very large machine with a 2ft. sq. bellow. At this point I think I can build a camera or enlarger with it. Can you give me any history or info. at all? As well as I can figure this would make it about 300mm.? It's also wide angle. I have serial #'s if you can look it up anywhere. No one online has been able to help. The lens is coated which I believe was done after WWII.

-- Aaron Gaylord (slag@berk.com), November 20, 2000

Answers

My lens references show the Trigor lens to be a process lens giving 80 degrees angle of view and it is stated to be of high repute. That is all I have on this lens.

-- John (jcr@jcr-cameras.com), November 20, 2000.

Trigor follows the Goerz logic of Dagor, i.e. TRIple anastigmat GOerz. Is it a blue dot?

Contact Richard Knoppow, The Knowledgeable: dickburk@ix.netcom.com

If he doesn't know it, it's a myth!

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), November 20, 2000.

Aaron: I think what you have is the lens and shutter from an old process camera, which was used in the printing industry. Print shops and newspapers used them before the days of computers. It is probbly an excellent lens close up, and may be great at infinity. Some of the process lenses had a focus shift when used at distances other than infinity. You can easily check that on the ground glass. Put it ahead of a Packard shutter and it makes a good combination for studio work.

Regards,

Doug.

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alaweb.com), November 20, 2000.

Trigors are some of the most desirable Goerz lenses. One in decent condition mounted in a good shutter will fetch upwards of $1500. The only more (or slightly less) desirable Goerz lenses are the Hypergon (preferably with fan) and Pantar cells.

-- Chad Jarvis (cjarvis@nas.edu), November 21, 2000.

Goerz was an American company, but it's entirely possible that the shutter was Swiss. The large machine is probably a process camera, used for making printing plates by photographing original print or artwork. 14 inch is very close to 360mm, and this lens would cover 8x10 easily. It was probably optimized for 1:1 reproduction ratios, but will still do very well at infinity.

You could use this in an 8x10 camera, or in some 4x5 or 5x7 cameras. I have a 360mm Nikor process lens which I use on an Arca Swiss monorail. I can focus as close as about 8 feet, but no closer with the standard bellows.

You could also build something to use this lens, could be fun, could be a huge job too.

It might make an OK enlarging lens, but would be way overkill for anything smaller than 8x10.

I used a 14 inch Goerz Artar as the objective for a small telescope. Very sharp!

-- mike rosenlof (mike_rosenlof@yahoo.com), November 21, 2000.

Aaron...

The first Dagor I purchased was a 14" Schneider of America Gold Dot that has a 'Lens made in Switrzerland' emblazoned on the back. As I understand the story, Schneider of America purchased Goerz of America, and that the Goerz/Dagor lenses at this time were made in Switzerland by Kern. It is possible that Goerz was already contracting with Kern prior to the purchase by Schneider.

Kern optics are very well thought of, and if I am not mistaken, their optics have been sold for Alpa 35mm cameras and on Bolex movie cameras. I also believe Kern is still in business.

Sounds like you have a very nice lens that is both collectable and with the possibility of taking wonderful photos.

Have fun!

-- Steve Nieslony (sejn@pacbell.net), November 22, 2000.