Well I wanted to know if 16x20 enlargement is too small for this lens. This is probably the largest I can afford to print. But will consider smaller/larger than 16x20.Originally Posted by Michael E
Well I wanted to know if 16x20 enlargement is too small for this lens. This is probably the largest I can afford to print. But will consider smaller/larger than 16x20.
I got the lens for $400, do you think it was a good deal? Seemed like it to me, as I saw this lens for a lot more last year. Looks like lenses have dropped in price this season.
Looking at using a horizontal enlarger, or do you have the head room for about 64" from negative stage to the paper for a vertical enlarger to get your 2x magnification of an 8x10 negative with a 360mm lens?
I found even with my 300mm given the tight confines in the basement ceiling, with the enlarger head all the way up, I had to drop the baseboard to the point I was on my knees using the focus finder on the baseboard...
One of the reasons I sold my 360mm Componon lens.
Something to think about...
Yeah I'm not sure about the arrangement yet, either horizontal or vertical. I have 9' ceiling (2740 mm)
Doing some rough calculations from a basic lens formula, for a 1:2 enlargement a 360mm lens would required 540 mm distance from lens to negative and 1080 mm from lens to the board, so 1620 mm (64") from negative to the board like you said.
So the bellows on my camera would be at the limit but still doable.
What lens do you use for 8x10 negatives, just the 300mm? I also ordered the 300 mm rodenstock lens aside from 360mm. I saw a good deal and caught a lens fever again.
Also, do you have diffusion or condenser type light source?
When I worked at Kodak our department had a 10x10 Fotar enlarger with a full set of Rodagon lenses. I used to make 40x40" color enlargements from 9x9" aerial negatives for display purposes, and used the 360mm lens. Those prints looked glorious (there were one or two that I'd like to have kept for myself).
On the other hand that enlarger had a 16' vertical column...
I'm now starting to think the easiest thing is to horizontally level my 8x10 studio camera on a heavy duty Gitzo tripod in a horizontal arrangement. All the lens/film-plane misalignments and focus can be essentially corrected at the easel mounted on the wall. Just need a fine mechanism to position and tilt the easel. This could at least get me started.
You alignment needs to be mostly between the lensboard and the negative stage. If you camera is already setup with center detents that would be great, but you still might want to check with a laser. Seeing clear, sharp grain in the corners of your 16x20 prints (to confirm alignment) can be difficult or impossible if you use fine grain film.
If only doing 2x enlargements ( 16x20") you would likely be fine using your camera lens, but I see you already bought an enlarging lens. 360 is pretty long for 2x prints, you will need a lot of bellows extension. I have only used my 360 when doing large horizontally projected prints. Mostly so I have a little more room for my whole body between the enlarger and paper for dodging and burning. Otherwise the 300 would project fine.
If the lens is a 'good deal' depends on the condition of the lens elements. If the lens were 'New' that would be a great deal. My 300mm Rodenstock Rodagon enlarging lens cost $1300 in 1988. That would be the same as buying it for almost $3400 today.
If the lens-board and negative are slightly misaligned, can it not be compensated at the paper board? I've seen this kind of thing done on the enlarger itself, where the lens is tilted relative to the negative and the paper tilted the other way, basically to perform a tilt/shift compensation in the enlarger instead of the camera, if the negative has too much perspective. The camera lens is designed to perform tilting of the negative relative to lens board, as a standard practice, in cases where the object being photographed is itself tilted. I'm thinking the same can be done with the enlarger. If there's a slight tilt of the lens/negative (always will be there, as the camera body is not sturdy like the enlarger) then the tilt can be compensated on the paper board. I think.
I caught the lens fever when I saw 360mm for $400 and 300mm for $300. With all the inflation going on, when things seem cheap it may be right time to buy. I did not receive the lenses yet, hopefully the glass is ok. The images and description seem fine for both lenses.
You might find that kind of light source - a light box or LED tablet - too weak.
Knowing which axis the lens to negative alignment is askew would make 'fixing the situation' via the baseboard (or projection surface) somewhat challenging, but perhaps not impossible.
The thing with an arrangement like this picture below, is the mis-alignment of the negative/lens is in a known direction. Thus making focus correction somewhat easy by the known baseboard tilt axis.
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