schneider kreuznach componon 135mm f5.6

[Dave Gesell]

Randy, I picked up the lens. Unfortunately it doesn't have a jam ring so I won't be able to do anything with it for a bit. I'm about to place an order with B&H so I'll add a jam ring to the list.

As for the lens, it's in very nice condition, it looks to be single coated, the aperture ring has subtle clicks at every half stop, and stops down to f/76. The iris is funky. It has 5 curved blades, but the outside of the curve is toward the middle of the lens, so at every aperture setting (even wide open the iris is visible), the iris forms a pentagon with slightly curved sides. Not likely to be a bokeh machine but I think it should serve well for shallow setups where the background is within the zone of focus (flowers on fabric etc).

[Tin Can]

Sounds good to me.

I have found Canadians seem to have equipment in very good condition. I rarely hesitate if a Northerner says something is VGC. The dry climate most likely helps.

Those jam rings can be difficult to find.

Good luck!

Randy, I picked up the lens. Unfortunately it doesn't have a jam ring so I won't be able to do anything with it for a bit. I'm about to place an order with B&H so I'll add a jam ring to the list.

As for the lens, it's in very nice condition, it looks to be single coated, the aperture ring has subtle clicks at every half stop, and stops down to f/76. The iris is funky. It has 5 curved blades, but the outside of the curve is toward the middle of the lens, so at every aperture setting (even wide open the iris is visible), the iris forms a pentagon with slightly curved sides. Not likely to be a bokeh machine but I think it should serve well for shallow setups where the background is within the zone of focus (flowers on fabric etc).

[Peter Yeti]

Dave, the iris you have in your lens is the standard for Schneider enlarging lenses. I have a bunch of Componon-S' in my darkroom and they all are superb. Bokeh doesn't matter in enlarging or you do something wrong. However, a G-Claron isn't really an enlarging lens, it's a repro or process lens. Same thing regarding bokeh, though. I use a Componon-S 5.6/150mm for close-up work and mounted it in a shutter for this purpose. So, the iris is the standard one of the shutter and bokeh is what you can expect from a modern plasmat lens. Single coating seems pretty standard for enlarging and process lenses.

[Dave Gesell]

Peter, thanks for the information. It's been a while since I've done any wet printing, but I now recall that a lot of enlarging lenses had irises like this. The fact that it's a modern lens that doesn't have an illuminated aperture scale should have twigged me to it being a repro/process lens, not an enlarging lens.

I did some futzing about and discovered that I can use the lensboard and retaining ring (Copal #1), from my Nikkor W 210mm, so I could've used it today. Doh! I don't think I'll end up getting a board and retaining ring for it since it just takes a few minutes to change over. Just need to get a couple of push on caps. A 51mm for the rear and 54mm for the front should work.

[paulMD]

Related to this, a 240mm G-Claron enlarging lens has popped up on my local Craigslist for $80. I'm tempted to grab it because I'm sure I could get it mounted on a board, but I'd really like to mount it in a shutter since I prefer to use studio flash for my still life/closeup work. Does anybody know what I might be looking at price wise for installing it in a shutter (assuming I can source a used Copal #1 shutter)?

G-clarons will probably work better than an actual enlarger lens (note: process lens != enlarger lens).

It's probably not worth the effort for anything except macro, given that lenses designed for long-range shooting (or even process lenses like the G-claron) are a dime a dozen these days (and come already mounted).

[Tin Can]

Dime a dozen! OK, I have a dollar, please send me 10 lenses.

[Ian Greenhalgh]

I use a Componon-S 5.6/100 on my Century Graphic 23 often, cells go straight into a #00 shutter. It shoots better at distance than either my Xenar 3.5/105 or Xpres 3.8/105.

[JohnJ]

Randy, I picked up the lens. Unfortunately it doesn't have a jam ring so I won't be able to do anything with it for a bit. I'm about to place an order with B&H so I'll add a jam ring to the list.

As for the lens, it's in very nice condition, it looks to be single coated, the aperture ring has subtle clicks at every half stop, and stops down to f/76. The iris is funky. It has 5 curved blades, but the outside of the curve is toward the middle of the lens, so at every aperture setting (even wide open the iris is visible), the iris forms a pentagon with slightly curved sides. Not likely to be a bokeh machine but I think it should serve well for shallow setups where the background is within the zone of focus (flowers on fabric etc).

Schneider aperture blades from approx. after the 70's, although this ones on a Xenotar, they are pretty much all the same.





And if used as a taking lens (which the Xenotar is anyway) the aperture does have a negative effect on the bokeh but you can also use it to your advantage if you want.

[Tin Can]

Good thing I read that 3 times. A good idea, i think I can do with equipment on hand!

I use a Componon-S 5.6/100 on my Century Graphic 23 often, cells go straight into a #00 shutter. It shoots better at distance than either my Xenar 3.5/105 or Xpres 3.8/105.

[Ian Greenhalgh]

I just stuck my Componon is a Prontor I salvaged from a broken Balda folder, it used to have a 2.9/75 Baltar triplet in it and I haven't re-scaled the aperture yet, but it shoots well. I keep meaning to find a more suitable shutter for it as this Prontor sadly lacks a cable release socket.