Enlarging lenses- which ones?

K

Kyle

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I think I found a good deal on a 23CII locally, but it comes with no lenses. Anyways, I'm sure its been asked and answered before, but what are some good enlarging lenses? I'm willing to pay more for better quality glass, no point in having nice Zeiss and Mamiya lenses if I'm going to cheap out with crappy enlarger stuff. I'm going to need one for 35mm and 6x6, which I believe means I need a 50mm and 75mm or 80mm lens, correct? Any sugestions?

Thanks!
 
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Kyle,

If money is no object, get an Apo El-Nikkor 100mm/F5.6 (if you are lucky enough to locate one).

For real world photography, a Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon 80mm/F4.0 is a great lens and would be much more affordable.

Cheers,

Abbazz
 
Several manufacturers of enlarging lenses offered different models at different price-points. Especially now with prices very reasonable, I'd suggest getting only the best you can find in whatever brand you choose.

I bought a new 23C in 1966 and chose a Leitz Focotar 50mm f/4.5 enlarging lens. It has done the job beautifully. When I got into 6x7 format I bought a Nikkor 80mm f/5.6 and it's great too... a bit short for 6x7 but it covers the format fine and allows larger prints on the baseboard than a 105. In a brief foray into Instamatic 110 printing, I used a Minolta 30mm f/2.8.

Now I might choose a 40mm Focotar for 35mm film to reduce the amount of extension for large prints and for easier cropping. And to serve better at enlarging half-frame 35 which oddly I continue to use even now. In the past, to get larger prints from half-frame, I'd place my 35mm Summicron on top of an empty lens board, stopped to f/8, and made some nice prints that way!
 
I just stumbled across Mike Johnston's column in the September issue of the excellent Black and White Photography magazine. Titled "Only the best", this very interesting column deals with enlarger lenses and the way to use them. Highly recommended reading.

BTW, according to M. Johnston, the best enlarging lens available is the Carl Zeiss S-Orthoplanar 60mm F4.0. It retailed, when last available, for more than 1,600 English Pounds.

Cheers,

Abbazz
 
I use since years Schneider Componon-S 2.8/50 for 35mm negativs and a Rodenstock Rodagon 4.0/80 for 6x6 negativs and I'm very satisfied.
 
On a slightly more realistic note, in practice "better quality glass" means a six-element enlarging lens. There is little to no difference between an APO and non-APO lens in that range, especially if you don't do extremely large work and/or color work. In my opinion investing in an Orthoplanar for home enlargements is money thrown out of the window unless you also invest into a laser alignment system to make sure that your base board and film carrier are 100% (as opposed to 99.9%) parallel and into a concrete stand in your cellar to make sure it's vibration-free. In practice, I'm sure none of us actually needs it.

So a three-element lens would be crappy, a four-element lens would be mediocre to good, a six-element lens will be excellent, and a six-element APO lens would have the potential to be slightly more excellent in very demanding situations. But the difference of an APO six-element lens over a non-APO six-element lens is not significant in practice and even less so for a beginner.

I think "just excellent" is enough. Due to the collapse of the home darkroom market, excellent six-element lenses such as the Rodenstock Rodagon, Schneider Componon-S, Nikon EL-Nikkor can be had used on eBay for 30 to 50 USD - these are lenses that cost $500 new. If you are lucky, you can get along for less than this; I paid 12 EUR for my Rodagon 105 and consider this by far the best value I ever got on any photographic device. An APO lens on the used market will cost about four times as much with little added value, so I don't see the point in that. An APO lens new will cost about $800 over here if I remember correctly. So a new APO lens over a "just excellent" non-APO one on the used market corresponds to at least ten times as much money without delivering any significant bang for the buck. While it's nice to speculate about how an Orthoplanar would be nice, I think this is just gearhead talk (I like gearhead talk, but I don't want to base my buying decisions on it). Get a six-element lens and be happy. It will be very, very long until you discover any limitations, if ever.

Philipp
 
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Thanks everyone for the advice, especially to rxmd for the very detailed response. I will be picking up my new (to me) enlarger in a couple hours. After that, the hunt for the enlarger lenses (and other darkroom supplies) begins!
 
I agree that the Nikkor ELs are very good. They also make good large format ultramacro lenses when reversed and mounted in a shutter.
 
I just won on ebay a Rodagon-WA 60mm f4 for £19 which is absolutely in near new condition. I deem it the best bargin I have ever had on ebay. The lens is used for 6x6 enlargement and also suitable for 35mm enlargement. So if you can find one, you can use it as an universal lens. I am planning the build-up of my darkroom and have picked up two lenses. The other one is Schneider Componon-S 50mm f2.8. Since I occassionally shoot 6x9 format, I will also look for a 105mm lens.
 
Some additional information since there are too many types of enlarging lenses available. Since you are looking real high quality enlarging lenses, you should go for the six-elements types produced by the major manufacturers.

Schnerder Componon-S, Rodenstock Rodagon, Nikkor EL, and Fujinon EX are all six-elements enlarging lens types which could meet the needs of very demanding professional enlargements. APO versions are the top line of each manufecturer but comes at premium prices. Unless you make very large colour prints, I don't think they are a good choice.
 
kyle,

having the same question some time ago, after a lot of research I came to pretty much the opinion that rxmd (and photocrazy) stated.

If you won't enlarge the 35mm frames to more than 8x12inch you can also start with an 80mm enlarging lens only. And then add the 50mm when your prints get larger
 
A few points concerning the Fujinon lenses. Fujinon EP is the old version of the six-elements type with single coating. Fujinon EX is the new version EBC multicoated. I find Fujinon lenses quite rare on the market. So if you can pick up one at reasonable price, you won't be dissappointed.
 
photocrazy said:
Some additional information since there are too many types of enlarging lenses available. Since you are looking real high quality enlarging lenses, you should go for the six-elements types produced by the major manufacturers.

Schnerder Componon-S, Rodenstock Rodagon, Nikkor EL, and Fujinon EX are all six-elements enlarging lens types which could meet the needs of very demanding professional enlargements. APO versions are the top line of each manufecturer but comes at premium prices. Unless you make very large colour prints, I don't think they are a good choice.
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I've never seen the need for an apo lens in general practice unless you're making murals. I use the above lenses and highly recommend them. Even the old componons are fine. I favor the EL Nikkors in the in the shorter focal lengths and like my Rodagons but really love the Nikkors. I also use Componon-s lenses for some of my large format printing and reall like them. My personal favorite in LF enlarginf lenses is my 135 Fujinon EX and would buy a 210 for my 5x7 Durst if I could find one reasonably. The Fujinons are tough to find but exceptional in optical performance and build. I was turned on to the EX by a pro lab that used them.
 
photocrazy said:
A few points concerning the Fujinon lenses. Fujinon EP is the old version of the six-elements type with single coating. Fujinon EX is the new version EBC multicoated. I find Fujinon lenses quite rare on the market. So if you can pick up one at reasonable price, you won't be dissappointed.
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i was lucky and found an ep 50 and a fujinon 4 element in 75 or 80 (can't remmeber) brand new when a local camera store was going out of business. got them at a good price.
bj bignall now has them now as i sold him my complete darkroom.
 
Thanks again to everyone for the replies. I just won used but clean EL Nikkor 50/2.8 off ebay for $20 shipped. Not sure if its the best deal or not, but I'm excited to get a lens and start printing!
 
Thanks, I wasn't searching ebay enough to know a good price for it, glad I didn't spend too much. I just wanted to get something so I could start and this one was from a private seller with good feedback so it looked good.
 
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