Need advice on enlarger lens

danwilly

danwilly

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Jul 16, 2005
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I have a Vivitar enlarger and I want a quality lens. I purchased a Schneider Krueznach 50 mm lens on ebay only to find it is designed for a 25mm opening and my enlarger takes what appears to be a 39mm opening. Doesn't take lensboards so no help there. Is there some kind of adaptor out there that would work. Or am I screwed, so to speak.
 
You probably could find an adapter ring on eBay, or just Google "25 to 39 enlarger adapter" and see what you come up with. It would look similar to a step-up/step-down ring for lens filters. I have an old Kodak Ektar 75mm enlarging lens with a very odd 29.5mm thread, and finally found an adapter to fit the 39mm lens plate for my LPL enlarger.

Don't spend too much money, though. If your Schneider is the Componar it's only a 3 or 4 element lens. The best ones are the Componons which are 6 elements. It might just be easier to buy a 50/2.8 Nikkor lens (newer version) which are plentiful, great quality and 39mm thread.
 
The first generation Componon often came in that odd thread size - and as enlargers usually come with exchangeable lens boards, original adapter rings will be rare or even non-existent. Filter adapter rings will do, but these tend to bridge smaller increments and both 25mm and 39mm are less popular filter sizes, so you might need to stack three or four of them. As the ebay price for a more modern Componon or EL-Nikkor with 39mm thread is a mere 20-40€, it will be easier to get another lens...
 
Go for the nikon 50mm 2.8 I bought one on ebay for £30 a few years ago, when I was at college/university it was always a race to find the nikon lenses!
 
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