LEITZ WETZLAR Aristophot - what is this?

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Hi folks...

I'm not very deep into photography, but have one of these and know next to nothing about it... someone emailed me and suggested I check here. It's currently on eBay... have *lots* of pics of it there.

Here's a link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1282016143

Can someone please tell me what exactly I have and if it's all here? I read a *little* about these... sounds like they have various uses - ?

Also... would be interested to know what a fair value would be for this... I was doing litle more than guessing and may be high...

thanks!

Will

-- will shouse (mail.ws@gte.net), October 05, 2001

Answers

The Aristophot is a macrophotography stand. It's configured a lot like a microscope, with a very long bellows instead of the microscope tube, and a camera at the top. There was a special series of micro Summar lenses for it (sometimes you see them on Ebay) in lengths from 20mm to 80mm or so, that permitted very high magnification with the long bellows. I believe there were also adapters for LTM lenses, lenses with the standard Schneider (34.5mm) thread, and for microscope objectives.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), October 05, 2001.

The Aristophot is an interesting ( and heavy ) piece of photographic equipment for macrophotographic purposes. I have several of them. One of them came equipped with a 4x5 Linhof back and film holder. The Aristophot is so stable, vibration or shake is almost never a problem. It is a great piece of specialized equipment. It will probably last forever. I have no idea of the value, but then, I have no intention of ever selling mine. I will take a wild guess and say that the value is more than you think it is. It is hard to imagine another piece of photographic equipment made as sturdy as the Aristophot. If you have a need for good equipment for macrophotography, the Aristophot is like gold. It is not for everybody, but if you have a use for it, you can't beat it. In fact, I am looking for some kind of adapter that will permit digital cameras to be used with the Aristophot. Does anyone know of any adapters?

George Butler thambar@att.net

-- George Butler (thambar@att.net), October 08, 2001.


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