fujinon A 300 f=9 coated?

[Randy Unruh]

Is the Fujinon A 300mm f=9 a coated lense? Ok for color? Enough coverage?

[Dan Fromm]

To answer your question, this is one of the worst lenses made. Like all Fujinons, it is not coated. It suffers severe chromatic aberration and must be used with a monochromatic filter, e.g., yellow, to produce acceptable image quality when shooting black and white. For color, it is unusable. It covers a 65 mm circle, so it isn't really usable on formats as large as nominal 6x6.

Sorry,

Dan

[Steve Hamley]

Randy,

Yes. Good for color, coverage is 420mm.

http://members.aol.com/subgallery/

Steve

[Gem Singer]

Hi Randy,

The only version of the Fujinon f9 300A that was made had Fuji's outstanding EBC coating (electron beam coating). It is mounted in a Copal 1 shutter. With a 70 degree angle of coverage and a 420mm image circle, it is an excellent lens for the 8X10 format.

If you can find a previously owned one, in excellent condition, for a price that fits your budget, grab it. If you don't want it, I do. It's an extremely rare lens that I would love to add to my collection.

[Gem Singer]

P.S. the Fujinon "A" series are Apochromatic lenses. That's what the "A" stands for. They are 6 element process type lenses, optimized for flat surface close-up photography. However, they work just fine at infinity when closed down.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

The only version of the Fujinon f9 300A that was made had Fuji's outstanding EBC coating (electron beam coating). It is mounted in a Copal 1 shutter. With a 70 degree angle of coverage and a 420mm image circle, it is an excellent lens for the 8X10 format.

Actually, samples made before ~1980 are single coated. Samples made from ~1980 - ~1990 are EBC multicoated. I don't have my collection of Fujinon brochures in front of me, so I can't nail down date of the transition from single coating to EBC multicoating. However, it's easy to tell just by looking at the lens. If it's single coated, the labeling will be around the inside of the front barrel as seen here:

http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/images/fuji180.jpg

If it's EBC multicoated, the labeling will be around the outside of the front barrel as seen in this photo:

http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/images/fuji360a.jpg

Kerry

[Gem Singer]

Thanks for chiming in Kerry. I got my information from the members.aol.com/subgallery website.

Was that pre- 1980 single coated f9 300A mounted in a Seiko shutter? Or, was it mounted in a chrome ring Copal shutter? It would also help to have that information in order to verify the age of the lens on the used market. I'm looking for the later model with EBC coating.

[Donal Taylor]

Dan - what are you talking about...? (or were you just hoping to fleece Randy out of an excellent lens?)

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Was that pre- 1980 single coated f9 300A mounted in a Seiko shutter? Or, was it mounted in a chrome ring Copal shutter?

Eugene,

I've only seen one single coated 300 A and a couple single coated 360 As. They were all in older style Copal shutters (like the one shown in the picture of the 180 W linked above).

I also just did some checking in my Fujinon literature, and have discovered that the single coated 300 A and 360 A were only made for about a year. No wonder you don't see very many of them. In fact, NONE of my official Fujinon brochures list them (and I have AT LEAST one brochure per year from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. Of course, I know they exist, as I've seen them. They are also listed in some of my D.O. Industries price lists from that time. Here's what I've got:

D.O. Industries Fujinon Lenses Price List dated August 15, 1979 lists the 180, 240, 300, 360 and 600 all as single coated (I believe the 600 was no longer being made and they were probably selling remaining stock on hand).

D.O. Industries Fujinon Lenses Price List dated March 1, 1980 lists the 180, 240, 300, and 360 all as single coated AND and the 180 and 240 NAS series as EBC multicoated. Obviously this was a transition period when they were phasing out old stock single coated samples and starting to sell the newer EBC models.

D.O. Industries Fujinon Lenses Price List dated August 15, 1980 lists the 180, 300, and 360 as single coated AND and the 180 and 240 NAS series as EBC multicoated. Evidently they'd sold out of the single coated 240 A at that point. According to my Fujinon brochures, the 240 was the first of the A series to be offered with EBC multicoating.

D.O. Industries Fujinon Lenses Confidential Dealer Price List dated April 5, 1981 lists just the 180 and 360 as single coated AND and the 180, 240, 300 and 360 NAS series as EBC multicoated.

D.O. Industries Fujinon Lenses Confidential Dealer Price List dated February 1, 1982 doesn't list any single coated A series lenses - just all four focal lengths (180, 240, 300 and 360) in the NAS series as EBC multicoated. The transition from old stock to new was complete.

The earliest official Fujinon brochure I have that lists the 300 and 360 A series lenses is dated October, 1980 - and they are listed as multicoated. So, it looks like the single coated versions of these two focal lengths were actually only manufactured from about mid-1979 (no mention of ANY 300 and 360 A in the February, 1979 brochure) until about mid-1980.

A few years earlier, Fuji had switched all of their lenses, except the 150mm f6.3 W from Seiko shutters to Copals. So, it doesn't look like any 300 or 360 A series lenses were originally sold in Seiko shutters.

P.S. an EBC multicoated 300mm Fujinon A sold earlier today on eBay for $442.55 - a tremendous bargain. That's the first time I can remember seeing one sell for less than $600 (I sold mine about a month and a half ago for $625 - which I thought was a very fair price for both seller and buyer).

Kerry

[Gem Singer]

Thanks for the info., Kerry. I'll keep my eyes open for a 300A (EBC) in a chrome ring Copal 1 shutter. I'm also looking for a 360A (EBC). $625 was a good selling price for your 300A. It must have been in mint condition.