Have you ever used Industar-23U/96U or Vega 11U?

[mindcircus]

Hello, I have a Meopta Opemus 6 enlarger which had a Belar lens on it. I've heard its quality is very mediocre and I want to take something better in order to make 30x40cm prints. I am not a professional so I don't really care about the ultimate sharpness, but I would like to know about your experiences on these lenses.

Thanks

 

[Livesteamer]

I don't know about the lenses you mention but I have heard the Industar 50 is a popular enlarger lens. Joe

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Hello, I have a Meopta Opemus 6 enlarger which had a Belar lens on it. I've heard its quality is very mediocre and I want to take something better in order to make 30x40cm prints. I am not a professional so I don't really care about the ultimate sharpness, but I would like to know about your experiences on these lenses.

Thanks

Given the current low prices of darkroom gear - in general, I would be inclined to seek out one of the Schneider or Rodenstock lenses...or a good EL Nikkor takes some beating! 🙂
Dave.

 

[MartinP]

The Industar-50 which is mentioned above, is a tessar-type (four elements in three groups) camera lens though it does use a 39mm thread-mount, same as the mounting ring you probably have on the Meopta.

The Industar family are (usually or always ? not 100% sure) tessar designs while the Vega was a five element, so it may be more highly corrected. A lot will depend on the original quality-control and on what has happened to it since it was made though.

The four-element enlarging lenses from western manufacturers are also probably worth avoiding, but only because the six-element lenses are so cheap second-hand these days.

 

[varjag]

I used the industars, and vega. Vega was fairly OK, enlarger industars are better destined for trash bin.

 

[pschauss]

I have an Industar 100Y (110/f4) and a 23Y (110/f4.5) and have found (unscientific) the 100Y somewhat sharper. (Note that in the cyrilic alphabet Y is equivalent to U.) I also have the Vega 11Y . When doing large prints on my Beseler 23C it was difficult to get the Vega close enough the film plane to focus properly.

If you watch Ebay and the classifieds on the various forums you can usually find a good deal on an El Nikkor for the same price or less than an FSU lens would cost with the shipping.