If you ask seasoned shooters what favourite lens they would name, many would say a Heliar. Those are masterpieces of german optical design and famous in the Large format community for their smooth portrait rendering and absolute stunning bokeh. Just google up the internet for sample images shot with Heliar, you will see what i mean.

What you see here is a rather rare example of the early 300mm version in a Compound V shutter. The Heliars that came already in compound shutters were more exclusive and costly. This item is interesting for collectors and users.

The condition of this specimen is quite nice. The lens is in absolute working condition: the aperture mooves smoothly forth and back and have all its leaves. The glass is in an good condition, there are two spots of edge seperation in the front achromat, but this will not affect the image quality. There is no fungus, haze or any chips there. The Compound shutter seems to work fine, the times sound about right, but as with all older shutters they might be a bit off from time to time.


The lens offers a focal lenght of 300mm and will work best for 5x7 and 8x10 formats.


The lens comes with the original flange.





height: 8.5cm
width: 8.5cm (the lens barell)

weight: 1200gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 10 eur
EU* - 20 eur
Worldwide - 50 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.