Caltar II-N Lenses on Sale at Calumet

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Just FYI...

I was just cruising by the Calumet web site at:

http://www.calumetphoto.com

when I noticed that several of their Caltar II-N lenses are currently on sale at VERY attractive prices. These Caltar II-N lenses are identical in specs and pe rformance, and are in fact made in the same factory by the same people as the co mparable Rodenstock APO Sironar-N and Grandagon-N lines. The differences being the labeling, who provides the warranty and the prices.

Here's some sample prices (B&H prices for comparable Rodenstock lenses provided for reference).

135mm f5.6 Caltar II-N $399.99 ($539.00) 150mm f5.6 Caltar II-N $399.99 ($559.00) 180mm f5.6 Caltar II-N $549.99 ($739.00) 210mm f5.6 Caltar II-N $599.99 ($715.00)

65mm f4.5 Caltar II-N $899.99 ($1199.00) 75mm f6.8 Caltar II-N $649.99 ($749.00) 75mm f4.5 Caltar II-N $899.99 ($1295.00) 90mm f6.8 Caltar II-N $699.99 ($919.00) 90mm f4.5 Caltar II-N $999.99 ($1300.00)

I don't work for Calumet. I'm only posting these prices here as a public servic e to the readers of this forum. At these sale prices, these Caltars represent s ome truly great buys in new large format lenses. I only posted the B&H prices a s a reliable and easy to obtain reference (the only one I have handy this time o f night). I do not claim these are the absolute lowest prices on the Rodenstock lenses - just the current selling prices from a well known reputable source. A s you can see, the Caltar price range from just under $100 to nearly $400 compar ed to the B&H Rodenstock prices. These are truly some great bargains for anyone in the market for a new LF lens.

Happy shopping, Kerry

[Andre Noble]

Kerry, thanks for taking the time to share that info. These great sales almost always seem to come along when I'm broke :>)

[Oren Grad]

Kerry and all -

Folks who are thinking about buying now should double-check B&H's current prices - they've just cut prices on selected Apo-Sironar-N, Apo-Sironar-S and Grandagon-N lenses, and I think some of the prices you list here are already out of date...

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Hi Oren,

The B&H Rodenstock prices I quoted were current at the time of my posting (I was checking them in another window as I was typing my post). I just went back to the B&H web site and double checked and there have been no changes to the prices I listed since I made my post last night. B&H did lower their prices slightly on Rodenstock lenses recently, but they are still considerably (~$100 - ~$400) more than the Caltar II-N sale prices I listed last night.

BTW, I just did some checking at the Calumet site and they actually seem to have slightly better prices than B&H on the Rodenstock branded lenses (but still substantially more than the sale prices on the equivalent Caltars).

Kerry

[Bob Salomon]

I said any local dealer can match any Rodenstock price on a lens sold by Calumet. You MUST call the dealer or VISIT the dealer to have the price matched. The dealers do not advertise the price or post it as the price being matched changes.

In short.

Any speciality store doing business with HP Marketing can match any Rodenstock price for their customers on a lens by lens basis. Taking or enlarging. You have to personally contact the store for the price matching and some personnel in some stores have probably ignored or forgotten this program exists.

Some that take advantage of it regularly are Ken Mar, Mid West, PhotoMark, Denver pro Photo, glazers, Samys, K&S, K&R, Bear Images, Sylvios and many others.

But YOU must show them the price to be matched.

Is this plai enough?

[David F. Stein]

Thanks, Bob, for that valuable info.

[Bob Salomon]

To be totally clear. Dealers match Rodenstock prices not private label lens prices.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Bob,

So, what you are saying is that authorized (HP supported) Rodenstock dealers will match gray market prices on Rodenstock lenses, but NOT the Caltar II-N prices being discussed in this thread. Is that correct?

BTW, I just got off the phone with Calumet. The prices I quoted above are sale prices. The sale runs through the end of the month. Also, as always, when buying a lens from Calumet, they include at no additional charge a lensboard and the mounting of the lens on the board for any Calumet/Cambo camera. That includes the Zone VI, all Calumet/Cambo monorails and the Calumet Woodfield (which takes a generic Linhof/Wista style board). So, if you have a camera that accepts one of these style boards, you get an even better deal.

Kerry

[Bob Salomon]

Yes.

Not private label.

That means not Caltar, not Sinaron, etc. Rodenstock branded lenses.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Bob,

Thanks for the calrification:

"Not private label.

That means not Caltar"

Which then begs the question that if you don't price match Caltar lens prices, why are we even discussing this in a thread about Caltar lens prices? Oh well, I guess it's nice to know about the price matching policy on Rodenstock lenses, even if it has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.

Kerry