Multicoated, vs. Single Coated Enlarging Lens?

[Bob Salomon]

The only enlarging lenses that I recall that advertised that they were "multi-coated" were the Fuji EX series -- with EBC coating. They had to do SOMETHING to try to separate themselves from the pack. And I think 135mm was Fuji's longest.

Any others?

All Apo Rodagon N lenses were multi coated and all of the advertising and literature stated prominently that they were MC.

[Michael R]

I don’t care what anyone says. Domino’s is still the best pizza, multi-coated or not.

Makes no difference. Such lenses reached their peak performance in that general era anyway. There isn't much incentive to go beyond that today, in terms of enlarging applications per se.
Even production of the Rolls Royce series, namely, Apo El Nikkors, ended, but subsequently took root anew in fashion of specialized machine optics of fixed aperture and focal distance.
Lots of single-coated enlarging lenses remained on sale well after the 70's, even high-quality ones. A lot were made to begin with, and then demand tapered off.

Pizzas, however? Well, one of the local outfits got named best pizza in the country last year. But I still prefer homemade. You folks who hang out at Round Table or Straw Hat probably just do so for the biodiesel grease you can wring out of any leftovers.

[John Layton]

Yeah I also make a pretty decent pizza...I like 'em loaded - first anointing the stretched crust with a bit of tomato paste, then thick slices of mozzarella interspersed with fontina, then onto sautéed red peppers and mushrooms and carmellized onions - then plops of hand squeezed (to drain slightly) san marzano tomatoes (from a can), then some Kalamata olives, maybe some pepperoni or sweet (or hot) italian sausage, and/or a few anchovies - then a generous amount of hand-rubbed oregano, topped off with a long mouli-twist of pecorino romano cheese, with perhaps a drizzle of olive oil...

Then again, there are times when I feel a bit of nostalgia for those thin, limp, drippingly greasy slices we'd get at our local skating rink as kids - with the schmear of acidic tomato paste so hot that the roofs of our mouths would start to peel away within just a few bites - oh yeah!

Oh....jeez...where was I here - lens coatings? (ha! almost said "lens toppings!" )

[Drew Wiley]

I think everyone is confusing lens coatings with lens cements, and which greasy pizza goo does the best job of that, and how long it takes in the pizza oven to get the right amount of curing.

[Daniel.E]

I've been thinking about the whole multicoated vs single coated for awhile. There's something that is bothering me, hopefully it doesn't sound dumb, but if it does please help me out to understand it!!
Can you tell if the lens is multicoated just by looking at the glass? Say, if I was to show you 4 different lenses, could you tell which ones are multicoated and single coated just by looking at the reflection?

How about these lenses? Could you point out which one is which?

[xkaes]

Sometimes it's EZ to tell, sometimes not. It depends on the lens. The thing is there is no legal definition of "multi-coating". Minolta put the first multi-layered coating on a Japanese lens in 1958. They called it "Achromatic coating". It was TWO layers of magnesium fluoride deposited in different thicknesses to radically reduce glare and flare. If you look at the lens, it looks single coated, but there are TWO layers -- so it is MULTI-COATED.

But Minolta's first "Achromatic coated" lens did not have every surface of every lens element so coated. And today, the same is true. A lens might be "multi-coated", but only have multiple layers of coating on one or two or three surfaces. In short, if a lens does not LOOK multi-coated, doesn't mean it isn't.

Still, on many lenses it is easy to see that it's multi-coated, by seeing different colors on different lens elements. But that is no guarantee, either. It's possible that a given lens has one amber colored coating on one element, and a magenta colored coating on another. They may all be single coatings, but they are different. Does that make it "multi-coated"?

So in order to answer your question, you first have to define "multi-coating" -- not very easy.

Coatings -- of whatever type -- are only applied to the surfaces of lens elements where it will make a difference. There are lots of multi-coated lenses that only have a little multi-coating -- that's all they need.

[Daniel.E]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense, I’m glad I asked!!

[MartinP]

The only enlarging lenses that I recall that advertised that they were "multi-coated" were the Fuji EX series -- with EBC coating. They had to do SOMETHING to try to separate themselves from the pack. And I think 135mm was Fuji's longest.

Any others?

Coincidentally, my Fujinon EX 90mm f5,6 makes noticeably more attractive images (to me) than my Componon-S. I will have to compare it with the 150mm Rodagon (at the same enlargement size) one of these days.

[xkaes]

The Fujinon EX 90 is a 6/6 design while the Componon-S are 6/4 optics. Perhaps that makes a difference.

[Drew Wiley]

I wouldn't read too much into that. Fuji EX was just a slightly more modern design in general. Rodenstock was also ahead of Schneider during that same general era or decade, whatever.