Super Baltar Lenses

[Dave Blackham]

Please could some one provide a run down on Super Baltar lenses, the sorts of information that would be of interest is visual quality compared to say Cooke's. Build quality and their suitability to convert to PL. Are some focal lengths/versions better than others ? I understand that most are BNCR mounted. Im not sure if we would use them seriously with Red but it would be good to know if there's a use for them to get a particular look.

A set of these has been found in a store along with a set of Cooke mk2/3's unexpectedly and we would be interested to know more.

thanks for the info,

Dave

 

[Shawn Bannon]

I'll just say this. no coatings, lots of flares and they are lower contrast. I like the look of them not good for all situations though. gives a very vintage look to your work.

Sorry, the ones I shot with had the coating removed to produce more flare.

 

[Nils J. Nesse]

Duclos have some info here. I bet they could help you with PL mounts too. You could also consider the Visual Products BNCR mount.

“Margot at the Wedding” was shot on Baltars, that was a beautiful film.

 

[Stephen Williams]

I'll just say this. no coatings, lots of flares and they are lower contrast. I like the look of them not good for all situations though. gives a very vintage look to your work.

Hi,

I have used ones with coating. In the 50' or 60's the choice was B&L Super Baltar or Cookes SII/III. Both are very beautiful lens sets, one in a SB lens set I know is rather radioactive.

Stephen

 

[Jorge Díaz-Amador]

Super Baltars

Super Baltars

Not coated? I've got a 25mm f2.0 (T2.3) Super Baltar here and it definitely has a single-layer anti-reflective coating, with a predominantly blue reflection color. Probably single layer magnesium fluoride.

What's more interesting is that the lenses don't have focusing mounts. The one I have is brand new, from the last batch that was bought by the venerable NCE of Florida. There is not the slightest scratch on the lens anywhere, so I knew no one had disassembled it. The manufacturing quality is superb.

Matt Duclos told me that this is how Bausch & Lomb supplied these lenses. I understand that the vast majority of mainstream American motion pictures before about the mid 1950's were shot with Baltars (with the balance shot with Cookes).

If anyone knows more about these historic lenses, I think we would all appreciate your sharing the knowledge.

 

[Jorge Díaz-Amador]

Radioactive Lenses! :nuke:

Radioactive Lenses! :nuke:

Hi,

...one in a SB lens set I know is rather radioactive.

Stephen

Oooh... the old lanthanum glass. I was told a story about a film crew shooting at Niagra Falls that got stopped by Homeland Security. "What do you have that's radioactive?" It turned out to be the Kinoptic Tegea 5.7mm lens they were using.

Damn... I need a geiger counter now...

 

[Matt Garrett]

The Baltars from Duclos are lovely lenses. They have two identical sets. Both with a very different looking 35mm lens.
Shot a documentary for disney with them and the red. The clients loved the look.

 

[Dan Hudgins]

reflex

reflex

As far as I can tell the super baltars were computer desigined to have longer backfocus for use on reflex 35mm cameras, the older baltars will not work on reflex cameras, at least the wide angle ones since they are not retrofocus.

As to coating, all the post war lenses are coated. Most US movies you see from before Panavision were shot with baltars or cooke lenses, super baltars came out late when BNCR were being made, I do not think there are many sets around maybe 10x+ as many baltars as super baltars. As to which is sharper that would be hard to say as I have not done tests, but the 25mm baltar might be sharper than a 25mm super baltar since it is not retro focus, but you would need to do a side by side.

There are many older lenses that have been taken appart and goofed with, some have haze, and other issues. If you get a good one and use it at f/5.6 like it was desigined to be used at, they can give images that are useful.

With the older lenses you are expected to use a matte box with the right mask and not to point the camera into lights.

 

[Matthew Duclos]

Mmmmm Super Baltars...

We do have two matching sets that are PL mounted.
We converted our sets a long time ago and no longer perform this conversion as it is extremely expensive and time consuming. There are MANY factors that go into wether or not a set is suitable for conversion. Not just quality factors, but physical dimension factors as well.

Yes, our Baltars were used by Harris Savides to shoot "Margot at the Wedding".
They provide a very soft, classic look without any filters or nets. They do have light coatings but nothing compared to the advanced coatings used today.
The mechanics are decent, but again, nothing compared to modern optics.

If anyone has questions, please ask away.