Alphonse Darlot’s creation
Scored a Darlot Portrait Lens last month at the Camera Show. It was a bargain considering these brassies have gone up considerably with the resurgence of wet plate collodion and the petzval mongers. It’s an 8×10 lens size 4-4 with a back focus of 10.5″; it looks it could be used on an 11×14 format in portrait distance. I found some details on this lens from an 1890 catalog, of course nothing beats an actual image from it which I plan on making this weekend. I made a leather lens cap for it.
A Real Darlot
Darlot Portrait Lens 1890 Catalog
The lens cost $32 in 1890, in today’s dollar it would be about $800 – about the price I would ask for.
