Enlarge lens 150 vs 135

[jnantz]

I listened to the advice I got and found complete sets of silver Componons, some of which I cleaned out myself. Ken Ruth (Repair Guru Photography on Bald Mountain) explained that the Componon comes apart in complete optical groups. Use spanners and take the groups to the kitchen sink. Dawn Dishwashing Detergent makes 'em shiny clean again, some of mine were down right milky, they all came clean in the end except one. One 360mm was cloudy in the middle, I traded Jason Lane some Speed Plates for that one. I really think these are every bit as good as silver Schneider Symmars, in fact side by side, it's hard to tell them apart. I paid $50-$100 for each, ended up with a set of complete matching pairs for my TLR Normas.

These olde lenses can be underrated. Work just fine for my uses. 16x20 is as big as I can go.

well stated!
3 clicks past wide open nearly every clean enlarging lens made is great.
but its like everything else photographic, it's a lot of fun to make things as expensive and difficult as possible

[Daniel Unkefer]

I prefer cheap and difficult. LOL Agreed (three clicks yeah) and Thanks!

[Drew Wiley]

I often use the 150 Apo Rodagon N for medium format enlargements. Of course, it will handle 4x5 too, but with a bit of illumination falloff toward the corners unless you have an exceptionally effective mirror box above it, or properly ground diffuser. In either case, the performance is conspicuously better than what any 135 will achieve. But I have plenty of headroom with my Durst floor to ceiling columns.

I already stated earlier that my ideal of "normal" for 4x5 is actually my 180 Rodagon, since there is no falloff. But I've even used my 240 Apo Nikkor, which is optically the pick of the litter. I did use a 135 Rodagon back when all I had was an old Chromega D enlarger and needed to make 20X24 color prints. It was decent.

[Mal Paso]

A very nice looking 150mm Componon S arrived today but the threads are 42mm and the El Nikkor's lens board hole is 39mm. No 42mm hole board with the illuminator on ebay so I ordered a 25mm hole lens board and a new hole saw. I used the old hole saw on a 4x4 piece of heavy sheet steel which I painted black and is drying in the shop. The hole saw was on it's last legs but did make the hole which I cleaned uo with a die grinder. That should get me printing until the new lens board arrives. I have a miniature flashlight I can use to see apertures until the board with a light pipe arrives. The darn lens has half stop clicks and I'm going to have to check for a while. lol

Gotta love analog, can't fix digital with machine tools.

[Drew Wiley]

Anything digital is easy to fix once for all with a heavy pipe wrench. All of it ends up flattened as e-waste sooner or later anyway - mostly sooner.

[Mal Paso]

So that's how it is. Schneider and Nikon have the aperture close in Opposite Directions. Bet that's where Apple and Microsoft got their cues. Just do the opposite. Buggers! lol

[Conrad . Marvin]

So that's how it is. Schneider and Nikon have the aperture close in Opposite Directions. Bet that's where Apple and Microsoft got their cues. Just do the opposite. Buggers! lol

I hate it when that happens. Car makers like to do that with what side their gas fill opens on.

[Vaughan]

I hate it when that happens. Car makers like to do that with what side their gas fill opens on.

It's good that car makers do that, otherwise there would be half the number of lanes at the gas station to fill up on. Fun fact: the little picture of the gas pump on the dash indicates the side of the car the filler is on.

[Mal Paso]

It's good that car makers do that, otherwise there would be half the number of lanes at the gas station to fill up on. Fun fact: the little picture of the gas pump on the dash indicates the side of the car the filler is on.

Ya but they manage to have their engines run in the same direction.

The Componon S appears to be a hair sharper than the older El Nikkor but more noticeable is the increased contrast. Also the El Nikkor needed 1/3 more exposure at the same f stop. I printed on fiber and will check with a loop after the prints dry.

[Mal Paso]

I managed to find info on the Componon S I bought. Its design is from about 1986. Magnification range 2-20X and they claim an ultra flat field and superior color correction.