Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
Hi. I'm searching for buy lenses for my first 4x5 camera. I recently discover that schneider and rodenstock made lenses for other brands like Calumet or Sinar. Because I have low budget I'm trying to look for deals on ebay. This lenses are probably less know, so more posibilities to get them with cheaper price. So my question is which other brands have lenses made by schneider and rodenstock? Thanks
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
All "Caltar II N" are Rodenstock manufactured and about identical to the Rodenstocks lenses up to recent vintage.
Schneider made "Caltar II S" lenses for Calumet and they are comparable to Schneiders lenses of the same vintage, Something like 1975-1980's.
Ilex made Caltar lenses and most all can be identified by the Ilex shutter and may be named "Caltar S".
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
If you have a limited budget I'd suggest the Japanese and USA lenses. Fuji, Nikkor, Topcor and Ektar. All top quality and they frequently trade hands at prices lower than the comparable German lenses. For example, I'm on a budget and I have 20 large format lenses. Only one is German, the rest are Japanese. The Kodak Ektars are very sharp and this is nice because the 'blurry lens' crowd has not driven the prices up ;)
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
Also the Caltar II-E lenses are Rodenstock Geronars. I have a 210mm f/6.8 Caltar II-E lens, I love it.
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Frank Petronio
Recent Sinar Sinarons are Rodenstocks, older ones may be Schneiders.
You may pay more for Sinar- and Linhof-selected lenses because they are tested and chosen to be superior, better than average, in the same way that Caltars are cheaper because they are on the left side of the bell curve and are worse than average.
40 years later that post-production testing is of questionable value.
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Frank Petronio
...Caltars are cheaper because they are on the left side of the bell curve and are worse than average.
I have to disagree with this statement. My 75mm f/4.5 Caltar II-N (re-branded Grandagon-N) is one of my sharpest lenses. There is nothing "worse than average" about it. The 210/6.8 Caltar lens I mentioned earlier is also a little gem.
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
How would you know if you haven't run blind tests against other lenses of the same model/era?
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
I'm actually interested in a more generic answer, Frank... not just if Mark (or even you) have done a blind test. "Where is the test data... any test data... regarding the quality of Caltar vs their name-brand equivalents"?
In the general I respect the generic experience of those who have worked with both lenses, BTW.
Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands
The Caltars are lenses purchased in blocks, and engraved with the Calumet info. They are no better or worse than the general run of Schneider or Rodenstock lenses. The Linhof inspected lenses will be consistently on the high side of factory QC.
Edit - the above applies only to the lenses when new.