The Stephen Hajnal Snorkel No. 1611 - (BNCR Periscope Relay Lens)

Just bought this vintage periscope lens (relay + prism) for some specialized model railroad cinematography.

It had quite a bit of fungus that I had to clean off of it; while I had it open, I took the opportunity to snap some photos of it.

This lens was mentioned in the "What's New" column of American Cinematographer magazine, Vol. 61, Issue 7, July 1980, which summarizes its history better than I can:

"NEW MINIATURIZED SNORKEL LENS AVAILABLE

A new and revolutionary light weight snorkel lens has been designed by Stephen Hajnal.

This is the first snorkel lens which has been miniaturized so that it may be used with hand-held cameras. Only 12 inches long and 40 ounces in weight, it can be mounted in any motion picture camera (35mm, 16mm, and Super-8) including Mitchell, Arriflex, Panavision, Eclair, etc. The Hajnal Snorkel will also mount on all models of television cameras, both studio and portable types. It may also be used with 35mm still cameras. Mounts and adapters are available for all these.

The lens possesses excellent optical quality. The types of photography available with the Hajnal Snorkel are limited only by one's imagination. Intricate table-top TV commercials have already been produced with this equipment mounted on RCA TK76 cameras and the 35mm Arriflex BL. The Snorkel accepts any prime lens in Arriflex mount from a focal length of 5.7mm on up and including all zoom lenses.

The Hajnal Snorkel is exclusively distributed worldwide by F&B/Ceco and may be seen at both offices-at 315 West 43rd Street, New York and 7051 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, California. First introduced at the NAB in Dallas last March, the Snorkel is already being sold by a number of professional dealers in the United States, England, Hong Kong, Japan and in South America."