Another famous radioactive lens is the Kodak Aero Ekar 7"/2.5. The "aero" in the name refers to the design purpose of the lens: aerial photography. The fact th

Another famous radioactive lens is the Kodak Aero Ekar 7"/2.5. The "aero" in the name refers to the design purpose of the lens: aerial photography. The fact that the lens is radioactive is not particularly interesting. However, it is an incredibly fast lens for large format: on 4x5 film, f/4.5 produces a similar depth of field to f/1.2 on a 135* or equivalent digital camera. The 7" Aero Ektar produces a depth of field similar to f/.85 on 135. Now, mounting one of these lenses to a rangefinder camera (typically a Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic press camera from the 1940s) for use in the field is a chore, and results in a very heavy and rather clumsy-to-use piece of kit. David Burnett goes through the trouble, and the results [0] [1] are rather spectacular. *135 is the normal "35mm" film format, the same size as "full frame" digital. [0]http://www.davidburnett.com/users/davidburnett/images/davidburnett966606.jpg http://www.davidburnett.com/users/davidburnett/images/davidb... [1]https://www.davidburnett.com/users/davidburnett/images/davidburnett961178.jpg https://www.davidburnett.com/users/davidburnett/images/david...