Is Apo Ronar suitable for 3D up close?

[otzi]

I read that the Apo Ronar is best suited for flat things, stamps etc. and other similar lens' may be more suited for 3D, I presume this means insects, flowers etc. At what point does the good infinity qualities conflict with the 1;1 flat field qualities. Or Have I miss understood something? What quality can one expect at midrange or middle distance?

[N Dhananjay]

The Ronar is based on the Artar design, which itself is a basic dialyte design, 4 elements in 4 groups, symmetric around a stop. The lens is optimized for close distances, using the symmetry to correct certain aberrations, but this correction is for 1:1. The thing about the dialyte design, though, is that the corrections are stable over a wide variety of magnifications. When used at infinity, it is (at least theoretically) not working in its optimum area (i.e., what it was designed for) but the performance does not drop off too badly. So, in sum, if you are using the Ronar for close-ups, you are using the lens in the area it was optimized for and it is going to perform very well. If you ar eusing it at infinity, performance is supposed to drop a little but this drop is pretty small and the lens still performs pretty well. Cheers, DJ

[Bob Salomon]

You can photograph anything you like with the Apo Ronar. Just remember it is designed to only perform optimally at f22.

However if you were to compare the results from an Apo Ronar and an Apo Macro Sironar on your bugs at close range, taken at the same time, no matter how good the Apo Ronar results are the Apo Macro Sironar's will be better! And the Apo Macro Sironar will perform optimally over a wider range of apertures.

However if you are photographing maps, paintings, books, prints, etc. the Apo Ronar will out perform the Apo Macro Sironar.

At infinity the Apo Sironar N or S will outperform the Apo Ronar or the Apo Macro Sironar.

[otzi]

Thanks for the summary folks. And thanks Bob for your input now and over time with different members questions. Back searches has poped up your answers and comments several times and always helpfull... to me anyway. Otzi

[jose angel]

Have you read The Myth of the "Flat Field" Lens by Ron Wisner ?

[Julio Fernandez]

The Apo Ronar is a great all round lens. Extremely sharp at close up distances, and to boot with ZERO distortion it you are interested in forensic photography. For landscapes it is also a very sharp lens. Contrast is slightly soft and needs a little boost on PS, though but the resolution is amazing. In drum scans I was able to dig out more and more small detail that had been resolved to an unbelievable extent. I use the 300mm. Get the coated version. All newer ARs in shutter are coated. Rodenstock kindly provided the MTFs., and those show a truly excellent lens at all distances. At infinity the two MTF lines are in almost perfect sync indicating excellent correction for astigmatism and other aberrations. At infinity geometric distortion is not quite zero, yet less than most other lenses. This shot was taken with the AR 300: http://www3.sympatico.ca/gluemax/Scenery/2-GBay-from-KillarneyD99.jpg If you want an all round lens, this is it. For 4X5 the 300 is about the minimum F and at this focal length the IC is quite ample but because of its narrow IC, shorter ARs will give you slim coverage at infinity. For close ups you can go much shorter. Whether the macro lenses are better is splitting hairs in my opinion. Certainly they are less versatile.