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Eyemo lenses


Freya Black

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I have come into possesion of a few lenses for an eyemo, but sadly do not own an eyemo myself.

 

Can anyone explain to me how the lens mount works? It appears to me from the lenses I have that perhaps focussing might be partly a function of the mount itself, as I can't work out how focusing works looking at the lenses.

 

Can anyone tell me more about the lenses for the eyemo cameras generally? Your own experiences etc?

 

In fact any information is good! ;)

 

love

 

Freya

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I think in most of the standard Eyemo lenses that the focus ring moves the whole len, back and forth. There is a metal prong in the camera's lens mount that inserts into a hole in the back of the lens. This keeps the whole lens from rotating. If I remember correctly, there is also a pin that comes down, on the top of the camera lens mount, that holds the lens in place.

 

What lenses do you have fro the Eyemo? Maybe I could give you more info.

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I think in most of the standard Eyemo lenses that the focus ring moves the whole len, back and forth. There is a metal prong in the camera's lens mount that inserts into a hole in the back of the lens. This keeps the whole lens from rotating. If I remember correctly, there is also a pin that comes down, on the top of the camera lens mount, that holds the lens in place.

 

---Older Arri standard mount lenses work the same way, though the dimensions are different. I came across an Arri mount Astro-Berlin where the lens screwed completely out of the focusing mount like the Eyemax on my Eyemo.

 

---LV

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What lenses do you have fro the Eyemo? Maybe I could give you more info.

 

I have an Ilex cinemat 75mm F2.9 (A metric eyemo lens! Does this mean it's more recent?)

A Carl Meyer Cine Telephoto 6 inch F4.5 (who are Carl Meyer?)

An EyeMax Telephoto Type V 6 inch F4.5

An Eyemax 2 inch F2.8 lens

 

love

 

Freya

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I think in most of the standard Eyemo lenses that the focus ring moves the whole len, back and forth. There is a metal prong in the camera's lens mount that inserts into a hole in the back of the lens. This keeps the whole lens from rotating. If I remember correctly, there is also a pin that comes down, on the top of the camera lens mount, that holds the lens in place.

 

I thought it must be like that as all the lenses seem the same in this regard. I suppose it is a good way of doing things as it must save money in the lens manufacture. It made me wonder about a system where the camera might even have its own apeture and you just stuck a bit of glass on the front! ;)

 

Then again, there is a lens behined the apeture too of course.

 

love

 

Freya

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---Older Arri standard mount lenses work the same way, though the dimensions are different. I came across an Arri mount Astro-Berlin where the lens screwed completely out of the focusing mount like the Eyemax on my Eyemo.

 

---LV

 

But the focussing mount was a part of the actual camera?

 

love

 

Freya

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Generally, the newer lenses are clearer than the older lenses, and coated lenses exhibit less flare than their uncoated brethren. First generation Eyemos (back in the '20s) shipped with Cooke lenses; I have an early Cooke Speed Panchro 25mm that is hazy and exhibits vignetting. Bausch & Lomb Baltar and Super Baltar lenses were sold in both Mitchell and Eyemo mounts, so the same lenses shooting "Gone With the Wind" were available on Eyemos. General Scientific lenses were made for the US Gov't; Army Air Force, NASA, etc. The late GS 150mm telephoto is a dynamite lens. Ilex was a competitor to GS; my Ilex telephoto is pretty awful. Bell & Howell Eyemax lenses (some were repackaged Baltars) were also for military use, some focussable, others not; the American B-17 bomber crews used non-focussable Eyemax lenses on their Eyemos.

 

All these lenses are at least 40 years old; don't expect them to cut seamlessly with modern Zeiss or Cooke prime lenses. But if the lens elements aren't scratched they can give very sharp focus, and the later, coated lenses can provide a relatively high-contrast, flare-free image.

 

Eyemos are a great, inexpensive way to shoot 35mm movie film. The look is completely different from 16mm, and it's exciting to see your images without needing a magnifier. Don't expect to shoot sync sound; use it as intended, as a portable, wild silent camera, and you'll love it.

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On the topic of Eyemo lenses, I was wondering which ones are better then others. For instance how do the Cooke lenses compare to the Eyemax lenses? Or how about General Scientific Lenses? Any opinions?

 

My 50mm Eyemax is an uncoated triplet.

The General Scientific Miltars come out in the early to mid-50s, so are among the latest Eyemo lenses.

 

The lenses for the Technicolor three-strip camera were designed by Cooke & the 25mm is one of the first reverse-telephoto lenses.

 

---LV

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I've got 3 50mm Eyemax lenses, one is f/4.5 non-focussable, uncoated - remarkably sharp, considering. And two f/2.8 focussable, one uncoated, the other coated; the later (coated) lens is definately preferable.

 

I think one of the 6 inch lenses is coated, maybe both.

 

They all have focussing numbers printed on them, is this the difference between focussable and non focusable lenses?

 

Nobody has heard of Carl Meyer then? Coincidently I have a carl Meyer lens on my filmo too!

 

I heard that some people liked uncoated lenses for a different look?!!

 

Presumably the Eyemax lenses were made by different people at different times (whoever B&H were pals with at the time!). Is there any way to know who made what eyemax lens?

 

love

 

Freya

 

All these lenses are at least 40 years old; don't expect them to cut seamlessly with modern Zeiss or Cooke prime lenses. But if the lens elements aren't scratched they can give very sharp focus, and the later, coated lenses can provide a relatively high-contrast, flare-free image.

 

Well yeah, I understand what you're saying but I just got so bored with just shooting on my cooke S4's all the time so I just put them out with the trash and got these Eyemo lenses instead.

 

Hopefully now I will have a whole new look! ;)

 

Out with the new, in with the old...

 

love

 

Freya

Edited by Freya
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IIRC, Carl Meyer was a camera supply house in LA; whether they manufactured their own optics or rebranded others, I don't know.

 

Miltar lenses are fine, especially their late telephotos. The wide angle 25mm lens exhibits vignetting on some cameras, the 35mm seems bright all the way to the corners. A lot of older wide angle lenses (Cooke Speed Panchro I, Miltar, B&L, etc) exhibit severe optical distortion in the corners; that's part of their "character". If you require perfect corner-to-corner sharpness you'll need newer lenses.

 

Non focussing lenses don't have a focus ring, just a hard mount. They focus to infinity, for those crystal clear shots of Dresden getting blown to smithereens that we've seen in the old newsreels. Some medium and wide angle lenses may be focussed to somewhat short of infinity to allow for greater DOF.

 

Some Eyemos have been refitted with Nikon F mounts to allow for more modern lenses.

 

I am amazed at the tolerance of 35mm for lens imperfections. I got an Eyemo 71K a year or so back with a Bausch & Lomb 25mm lens that was cracked right through the front element. Of course it's not right, but the resulting image is still acceptably sharp for general use. Lots of haze near the highlights, though, like a mist filter.

 

I suspect that much of the use of Pro Mist and fog filters is a workaround for getting the scenic look that older lenses provided for free.

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  • 1 month later...

I have just bought two Eyemo 71K cameras. I want to try shooting a few TV commercials so I'd like nice lenses but I'm not prepared to modify what has become a vintage camera!

 

 

I have these lenses:

1. A very old-looking (Brass-front disk) Bausch & Lomb VICTOR Symmetrical 4X5 (for Still cam?)

2.Taylor-Hobson COOKE 47mm f/2.5

3.COOKE 6'' Telekinic Anastigmat f/4.5

4.General Scientific MILTAR -EFL 152mm f/3.5

 

My main question is eyepieces for these. Where do I get them? How can I comensate for parallax?

 

Are there reflex lenses? For example, my Bolex's 12-120 reflex lens changed my whole life!

 

Also, are coated wide lenses available, say 25-35mm? Are all of them prone to vignetting?

 

Is there a ground-glass prism I can fit to the film gate to check through-the lens sighting?

 

Steve

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...My main question is eyepieces for these. Where do I get them? How can I compensate for parallax?

 

If you can't find an Eyemo finder lens, you can use one from a 16mm Filmo. A 25mm Filmo finder lens seems to be the same (apart from the engraving) as a 50mm Eyemo finder lens. I don't know if this is universally true, but it was the case for the ones I looked at. I don't remember now if this was for Academy or silent "super 35" aperture. The same finder lenses are also used on the B&H 200 magazine cameras, and some Revere and Wollensak cameras too.

 

There is very little parallax unless you have the Spider (wide) turret.

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Are there reflex lenses? For example, my Bolex's 12-120 reflex lens changed my whole life!

 

Also, are coated wide lenses available, say 25-35mm? Are all of them prone to vignetting?

 

Is there a ground-glass prism I can fit to the film gate to check through-the lens sighting?

 

Steve

 

I think you have got a little confused by the thread! :)

 

I've no idea what coated lenses are available but they tend to be rarer because coating lenses is a more modern thing, and eyemo lenses tend to be quite old, like the eyemo itself.

 

When you mention vignetting I assume you are reffering to the optical distortion at the edges of the frame that someone mentioned. This may not be vingetting which is more of a masking effect but is more that the image itself is more distorted at its extremes. This is not related to coated lenses, in fact coated lenses probably are less likely to "suffer" from this as they are more modern lenses. It's just to do with the optics of the old lenses.

 

The eyemo is a non-reflex camera. I'm not sure what you are refering to with regards to the bolex 12-120 reflex, but a number of manufacturers made dogleg c-mount lenses that provided a reflex viewfinder with the lens itself. There is nothing like that on the eyemo. I suspect you are confusing this with when we were saying that some of the eyemo lenses were foccusable. What we meant is that some of the lenses are fixed at infinity and you can't focus them at all.

 

I've never heard of a prism like you describe, however, I hear that some eyemo's have a critical foucussing device like on the filmo, where you can rotate the lens out the way and check your foccusing by looking through the lens at a tiny spot at the center to check your focussing is right. This is something built into the camera however and not available as an add-on.

 

love

 

Freya

Edited by Freya
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love

 

Freya

Well yeah, I understand what you're saying but I just got so bored with just shooting on my cooke S4's all the time so I just put them out with the trash and got these Eyemo lenses instead.

 

Hopefully now I will have a whole new look! ;)

 

Out with the new, in with the old...

 

love

 

Freya

Do I risk making a gender and/or sexual preference faux pas by inquiring as to whether you're also considering re-doing your hair and makeup? :)

 

Edmond, OK

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Hi.

Is this an Eyemo lens?. The barrel rotates during focusing and the mount looks like Arri standard. It says it's made for 35mm. Focal length is 25mm T2. There is a light purple tint to the glass so I assume it's coated. I got it through a photo shop along some c-mount lenses and never knew what it was.

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Hi.

Is this an Eyemo lens?. The barrel rotates during focusing and the mount looks like Arri standard. It says it's made for 35mm. Focal length is 25mm T2. There is a light purple tint to the glass so I assume it's coated. I got it through a photo shop along some c-mount lenses and never knew what it was.

 

 

I have one of those same type lens for an Eyemo. As far as I can tell from the picture, it is for an Eyemo. If it says "for Bell and Howell Co." on the lens barrel then you can be sure.

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Hi.

Is this an Eyemo lens?. The barrel rotates during focusing and the mount looks like Arri standard. It says it's made for 35mm. Focal length is 25mm T2. There is a light purple tint to the glass so I assume it's coated. I got it through a photo shop along some c-mount lenses and never knew what it was.

 

Yes! That definitely looks like eymax mount for the eyemo! :)

General Scientific supplied a lot of lenses for Bell and Howell.

That is a great score!

It looks like a very nice lens, very modern looking and cosmetically great condition from the photo too. :)

I assume it was very cheap if you didn't even know what it was when you bought it! :)

 

love

 

Freya

Edited by Freya
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"My main question is eyepieces for these. Where do I get them? How can I comensate for parallax?"

 

---The 47mm Cooke seems to have been the standard lens in the late 30s and the 40s.

A 50mm view finder lens should be okay.

 

"Are there reflex lenses? For example, my Bolex's 12-120 reflex lens changed my whole life!"

 

---Theoretically the 38-154mm Pan-Cinor was availiable in Eyemo mount with a finder.

But can you find one? Don't hold your breath.

Also That would be a big, heavy set up for an eyemo mount. It would need a hefty lens support and a bridge plate.

 

I think Astro-Berlin a reflexfinder for very long lenses. Similar to the Leica Visoflex.

Maybe Kinoptik too. But again can they be found?

 

 

"Also, are coated wide lenses available, say 25-35mm? Are all of them prone to vignetting?"

 

---Baltars were made in eyemo mounts. They're post WWII and were the standard Hollywood lens during the 50s and mid 60s, until rackover Mitchell BNCs were replaced by reflexed ones and Super Baltars.

The Miltars are coated and from the 50s, last new lenses designed specifically for the eyemo.

& there should be some 'film-o-coated Cooke Speed Panchros, first series and Series II.

Maybe 18.5mm Angie. But that would be a holy grail.

There were also m-42-> eyemo adaptors. Those would most likely be found already screwed onto on Takumars and Zeiss Jenas.

 

Is there a ground-glass prism I can fit to the film gate to check through-the lens sighting?

 

---Not sure, but some spider turrets had one fitted on the motor side which could be used for rackover with a sliding base or tripod head.

 

---LV

 

 

 

I have an Ilex cinemat 75mm F2.9 (A metric eyemo lens! Does this mean it's more recent?)

A Carl Meyer Cine Telephoto 6 inch F4.5 (who are Carl Meyer?)

An EyeMax Telephoto Type V 6 inch F4.5

An Eyemax 2 inch F2.8 lens

 

---Could it be Hugo Meyer?

 

German. After Zeiss Jena, a major supplier of lenses for Exakta and Pracktika.

 

---LV

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"Are there reflex lenses? For example, my Bolex's 12-120 reflex lens changed my whole life!"

 

---

I think Astro-Berlin a reflexfinder for very long lenses. Similar to the Leica Visoflex.

Maybe Kinoptik too. But again can they be found?

"Also, are coated wide lenses available, say 25-35mm? Are all of them prone to vignetting?"

 

-The ad at the bottom of this very long page shows the Asro Cine Identiscope mounted on a Kodak K-100(?).

 

http://www.exaklaus.de/astro.htm

 

It doesn't say what cine cameras it could be mounted on. There's a larger picture on a still camera 1/3 up the page.

 

& Gauss-Tachars were availiable in eyemo mounts.

Don't confuse these with the even older Pantachars which are are slight variations of Tessar designs. Those were quite popular in the 30s, but are soft for current standards and/or styles.

 

I've heard that Gauss-Tachars are on a par with Cookes and older Zeisses.

But again: try and find them.

 

---LV

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Lots of good info on Eyemo lenses in this thread.

 

I'm pretty sure the black lens a few posts back is the Eyemo mount General Scientific 25mm lens; it looks like mine of the same description. On some Eyemos the GS 25mm vignettes in the corners (light fades to black). If you have an Eyemo with S35 full frame gate the vignetting will be worse than for an Academy frame gate.

 

I've seen a picture of one of those big Pan Cinor dogleg lenses on an Eyemo, but have never seen one live. Some Eyemos were retrofitted with mirrored reflex shutters like an Arri, but it sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Edited by Robert Hughes
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I'm pretty sure the black lens a few posts back is the Eyemo mount General Scientific 25mm lens; it looks like mine of the same description. On some Eyemos the GS 25mm vignettes in the corners (light fades to black). If you have an Eyemo with S35 full frame gate the vignetting will be worse than for an Academy frame gate.

 

---One of the things I noticed while going through all the Movietone footage is that the lens mounts might be centered on either the academy or the full aperture. Obviously the oldest models would be centered on the full aperture, but otherwise don't know which models are centered on academy. & one can't tell just by which aperture is in the camera. I noticed this on full aperture footage where one could see vignetting in the track area.

 

Another eyemo quirk I came across is that sometimes it misses a perf and pulls down 3 perfs.

 

The General Scientific lenses were named Miltars, which suggests they were designed for the military.

 

& B&H made another camera with eyemo mounts, the A9. If remember correctly. Had cameflex type mags and no viewfinder. Used a bore sight and sometimes a tracking finder. Probably a recording camera for the military.

 

---LV

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