Enlarger lenses, focotar 40mm replacement

[EtoileFinder]

Yesterday I take out my focomat v35 for cleaning and I realized that the my focotar 40mm lens have some fog or haze internally.

But I collected a bunch of lenses and I want to know if it is worth to send it to cleaning or find another focotar lens or simply replace it with another brand lens.

I have the well known EL-Nikkor 50mm 2.8, Schneider Kreuznach componon-S 50mm 2.8, fujinon ep 50mm 2.8 and Minolta c.e rokkor-x 50mm 2.8.

Are those lenses sharpness compare to the focotar ?

 

[Tom A]

The EL-Nikkor 50f2.8 is a better lens than the Focotar 40. Of course in using a 50 on the V35 you will "disable" the auto-focus as it is set up for the 40mm lens.

 

[kbg32]

Hmmm, I found the Focotar to be a much better performer 2-3 stops down, edge to edge then my El-Nikkor. IAt least with the 50mm. found out the hard way about the El-Nikkors. At least in the late 70s and early 80s, they were plagued with construction problems. Much to do with decentering of the lens elements. Yes, some people were quite happy with them, but the 2 that I had, in a word, "sucked".

I worked at Camera Barn in NYC during that time, and my findings were confirmed by the Nikon sales rep. I bought a 50 Focotar 4.5, slow yes, from Ken Hansen, and was amazed at what I was seeing in my negatives.

 

[Tom A]

Enlarging lenses as a whole were prone to decentering. I think I went through 3-4 Apo-Rodagon's until I found one that was sharp across. Yes, the Focotar 50f4.5 is good, really good, but expensive and difficult to find. I have a couple of Focotar -2 50f4.5 (and a prototype Focotar-3 50f4.5. It was intended for the V35, but considered too slow for color work and never made the market). With the EL Nikkors you try them out. Once you get a good one - they are really good, even and sharp all the way to the corner.

 

[Jani_from_Finland]

One contact i have in Toulouse (think he is working with Airbus) has made some real nice work on cleaning lenses and their elements with a Cold Cream they sell in the shops in France, costs just about 2-4 e per tube. If you can obtain that i suggest you to try it instead of buying a new lens. I remember it was named something like Avéne, check flickr for a user called "indianadinos" and search for "cold creme" in his stream.