History: This very old portrait petzval lens comes from the famous Ross workshop. Making it even more special, it does come from the very early time when Andrew Ross himself was in charge of the workshop. As one can see no the cutout part it is engraved with A. Ross, which was the engraving up to 1859. The serial number is 5.589 which dates it back to the year 1858.

The cutout part is consistent with many A. Ross lenses, since almost all of them were made in the pre waterhouse era, and many had a waterhouse slot cut out in the 1860ies.

The Ross workshop was one of the first opticiens who made lenses for the photographic proccess. Especially A. Ross lenses were well known back then and even more now for absolut top of the line image and built quality. You can easily put him right up with Dallmeyer and Voigtländer qualitywise, especially the super fast portrait petzvals.

Condition: The brass comes in a good condition, there is some wear to it indeed, but overall its in a good shape.The rack & pinion is complete there and moves though its bit loose at times. The glass is in a good condition, there are some cleaning marks as usuall, and some specs and small scratchings in the rear element, but this wont affect image quality on this fantastic piece of history.



This lens has a focal lenght of roughly 150mm at a speed of F3. It will cover 4x5 very tightly with a distinct petzval characteristic on the ground glass on portrait distance.


Lens comes with a fitting flange.




height: 10cm
width: 5.5cm
weight: 500gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 10 eur
EU* - 30 eur
Worldwide - 80 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.