History: The Dallmeyer 'Series B' was by then one of the known and favoured portrait lenses by then. This didnt change untill today, where the wet plate community holds the B series in high regards.

This specimen is one of the earliest 3Bs that i had in my hands so far. It comes from the time when Dallmeyer didnt engrave the series on the lens yet. Yet the marked all the lenses in their archives. The serial number: '8158' can be found in the archives in the Portrait Settings from the years 1863-65:

http://www.thedallmeyerarchive.com/Records/Volumes/stockbook1/Portrait%20Settings/Other%20Portrait%20Settings/No3Ordinary.pdf

Its the 'long' version, meaning it comes (as most B lenses that time) without the soft focus adjustment in the rear.

Condition: The outer housing looks good with some minimal signs of wear.  The rack & pinion mechanism is complete but not really moveable, but this is rather cosmetical, since you dont use it for focusing anymore. The most important thing here is that the glass looks very clean and shows no haze or fungus. The rear glass shows some major cleaning marks, but this is quite common for such old lenses, and doesnt affect image quality.

The lens features a waterhouse slot (no stops included).

The lens has a focal lenght of 290mm (11") at a speed of F3. It will cover 5x7 format but probably the best work it does on portraits with the 8x10 format.There it shows a fantastic petzval bokeh in the out of focus area. As all Dallmeyer petzval lenses this one is very very sharp in the center, considering the nice falloff its the perfect tool for portraits in those formats.




height: 18.5cm
width: 9.5cm
weight: 2000gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 20 eur
EU* - 35 eur
Worldwide - 70 eur

*(the site offers only 2 shipping variations, DE and worldwide. buyers from EU please either contact me beforehand for a reduced EU cost, or after buying so i can send a refund over the difference)

Importent Note: This item comes from my private collection and is around 100 years old (antique). I try my best to describe all the faults and major damage which are relevant for the function of this item. But the actuall item can show signs of wear and also some cosmetic blemishes/damage which is not described in the auction text! When buying this item the buyer agrees to this terms.