Enlarging lens used for camera lens

[Dan Kowalsky]

Hello to all,

I have a Rodenstock Rodagon 360mm 1:6.8 /45. It is an enlarging lens that I stop ped using for enlarging because of it's "too long a focal length"for my needs. M y question is, can I mount this on a lens board for my 8x10 Master View and use it as a normal lens in barrel? What quality effects + or - would I expect at dif ferent shooting positions ? I do not have a focal length lens in this area and i t would fill the gap. If any of you have tried this I would appreciate your help . Thank you for your time, Dan

[Pete Andrews]

Enlarging lenses are great for macro work on the camera, but I've never tried one at infinity. Why not just lash up a make-do panel out of cardboard and give it a quick test? The GG image should be enough to tell you if it's a complete no-hoper.

[Jim Galli]

Hi Dan, I started an answer earlier and got side tracked........this working for a living, what a bother. Anyways I experimented with a situation this weekend that has some parallels. I was curious about a 135 Componon S that was idling in the drawer so I mounted it in a Polaroid size O from an oscilloscope camera, put it on my Z VI and made 5 negs. I think the rule with all of these is first of all you have to stop down to f22 because the lens geometry that optimizes for 1:1 introduces other aberations that don't disappear much before f22. The result was that it has a decent image circle, about 189mm, and the negs were actually incredibly sharp. In fact the lens will go into my "kit" as a keeper. It replaces an Ektar 127 f4.7. Total investment, about $48.00. Something else you can experiment with is if you have other focal lengths that are in Copal 3, you may be able to screw the 360 6.8 elements directly in. 2 lens element sets, 1 shutter.

Jim Galli

[Andres Suurkuusk]

I use Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon-N 80/4 for macro work.

[Pete Andrews]

Beut Andre!I would never even have considered that colour combination, but it works extremely well. Is the background colour from a reflection, or from coloured Perspex? I've never seen plastic in that shade of blue.

[Paul Schilliger]

Jim, your experiment sounds interesting. Were your shots at close-up range or at infinity?

[Jim Galli]

They were landscape and architecture shots at or near infinity. Jim

[Jimi]

Hello all,

Check out http://www.wisner.com/myth.htm regarding the use of flat-field lenses (i.e enlarging lenses) as normal lenses.