Super angulon coated versus multi coated

[gorannil]

What is the difference between coated and MC:

super angulon 121 coated / super angulon 120 MC

and

super angulon 165 coated / super angulon 165 MC

(On a 8x10" camera)

1.)
Sharpness ?
Are there any MTF-curves available ?

2.)
Light fall of !

3.)
And will the MC have any benefits over just single coating ?


/Goran Sweden

[Ole Tjugen]

1) None.

2) None.

3) Only if you make a habit of including the sun in the frame somewhere. I do that all the time with my single-coated SA's, and can't see that the improvement with MC is worth the price difference.

[Ernest Purdum]

The purpose of coating is to get more of the light coming into the camera heading directly for the film and forming an image instead of bouncing around causing flare and/or lack of contrast. Multicoating does the same only more so, however the gain from uncoated to single coated is much more than the gain from single to multi.

As Ole indicated, being careful about lens shading is even better than depending on multicoating to eliminate all potential problems.

One major difference between single and multi coated lenses is the price. People who make their living with pieces of glass often figure they need the best tools available and are willing to pay for them.

[IanG]

While I prefer Multi-coated lenses I also use pre MC coating Super Angulons, & a Sironar these "single" coated lenses aren't far behind Multi coated lenses for the 99.5% of uses.

It's very rare to have flare problems with a good coated lens and while I can see a difference under some extreme conditions, these aren't run of the mill.

It's fair to say that coating quality varies markedly depending on manufacturer, and also with the age of the lens, but both Rodenstock & Schneider used excellent coating techniques prior to Multi Coating.

Ian

[E. von Hoegh]

Nikon also had some superb single coatings.

Basically, the more internal surfaces the handier multicoating is. As has been said, single coating and a lens shade is better than multicoating and no shade. I have only one MC LF lens; and IT benefits from a shade. My single coated lenses have always done a stellar job; I have never had a flare issue with any of them on any format. (Issue, that is, which would have been solved by multicoating).