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Thread: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

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  1. #1

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    Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Hi. I'm searching for buy lenses for my first 4x5 camera. I recently discover that schneider and rodenstock made lenses for other brands like Calumet or Sinar. Because I have low budget I'm trying to look for deals on ebay. This lenses are probably less know, so more posibilities to get them with cheaper price. So my question is which other brands have lenses made by schneider and rodenstock? Thanks

  2. #2
    loujon
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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    All "Caltar II N" are Rodenstock manufactured and about identical to the Rodenstocks lenses up to recent vintage.

    Schneider made "Caltar II S" lenses for Calumet and they are comparable to Schneiders lenses of the same vintage, Something like 1975-1980's.

    Ilex made Caltar lenses and most all can be identified by the Ilex shutter and may be named "Caltar S".

  3. #3
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    If you have a limited budget I'd suggest the Japanese and USA lenses. Fuji, Nikkor, Topcor and Ektar. All top quality and they frequently trade hands at prices lower than the comparable German lenses. For example, I'm on a budget and I have 20 large format lenses. Only one is German, the rest are Japanese. The Kodak Ektars are very sharp and this is nice because the 'blurry lens' crowd has not driven the prices up

  4. #4

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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Quote Originally Posted by ic-racer View Post
    The Kodak Ektars are very sharp and this is nice because the 'blurry lens' crowd has not driven the prices up
    One small drawback to the Ektars is that since they are vintage lenses, they are frequently mounted in vintage shutters. Which means that to be on the safe side, budget for the expense of a CLA for the shutter.

  5. #5

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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Quote Originally Posted by Moopheus View Post
    One small drawback to the Ektars is that since they are vintage lenses, they are frequently mounted in vintage shutters. Which means that to be on the safe side, budget for the expense of a CLA for the shutter.
    Better bargain for a CLA on any shutter more than 15 or so years old.
    One man's Mede is another man's Persian.

  6. #6
    IanG's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Quote Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh View Post
    Better bargain for a CLA on any shutter more than 15 or so years old.
    On the contrary I've found older shutters to be more reliable, my oldest Compur is 99 this year and I've a few from the 1920's and rimset ones from the 20's all OK as well. I find the Copals are more likely to need a CLA.

    The Caltars are lenses purchased in blocks, and engraved with the Calumet info. They are no better or worse than the general run of Schneider or Rodenstock lenses. The Linhof inspected lenses will be consistently on the high side of factory QC.

    Edit - the above applies only to the lenses when new.
    My main lenses are all Rodenstock & Schneider and my Caltar-S II (Symmar) is certainly equal in terms of sharpness etc and I agree with you and others there's nothing inferior about them.

    One problem is generalisms about lenses like Ektar's, there are quite a few different designs and they behave quite differently, some are plain Tessars, one is a Dialyte, across all formats the name is used on 3 element triplets through to sophisticated 7 element designs. As someone else pointed out Ektars are in vintage shutters and not all fit in the most common shutter sizes Compur/Copal/Prontor #0, #1 etc, other US made lenses are in odd sized shutters as well. It's useful being able to swap shutters if you do need to send one for a repair or CLA and this is where the modern sizes based on Compur's rimset shutters of the 1930's are useful. I can (and do) use lens cells made in the 90's in a shutter 60 years older (or vice versa).

    Ian

  7. #7

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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Quote Originally Posted by IanG View Post
    On the contrary I've found older shutters to be more reliable, my oldest Compur is 99 this year and I've a few from the 1920's and rimset ones from the 20's all OK as well. I find the Copals are more likely to need a CLA.
    And these older shutters have never been serviced in all that time?

    I have two older shutters--a Flashmatic and a Synchro-Compur that required service when I got them. Both had clearly not been used in decades. They were serviceable and work well now, but when you're buying an older shutter there's a good chance you're getting one that hasn't moved in many years. (I also have a rimset Compur I found in an antique store that is dead as a doornail)

  8. #8
    IanG's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Quote Originally Posted by Moopheus View Post
    And these older shutters have never been serviced in all that time?

    I have two older shutters--a Flashmatic and a Synchro-Compur that required service when I got them. Both had clearly not been used in decades. They were serviceable and work well now, but when you're buying an older shutter there's a good chance you're getting one that hasn't moved in many years. (I also have a rimset Compur I found in an antique store that is dead as a doornail)
    I've no way of telling if they've been serviced, most it's unlikely one maybe but I have tested the speeds and they are remarkably accurate. I do clean all my older shutters to free up the slower speeds when I get them if needed. I've been using a 1931 Compur #1 with mid 1950's lens cells and it's been very reliable for the past 6 years.

    Recently I've bought 11 shutters (since the begining of March) - 2 Compur - #0 & #00, 2 Prontor SVS #0, 2 Prontor-S #00, Prontor Press #0, Epsilon #0, Agi(fold) #0, and 2 Vario #00. Of those 11 seven came from the stock of a retired camera repairer and none cost more than £6.40 ($10.40) and 3 came with lens cells (one a mint 203mm f7.7 Ektar the other two Novars), I did get to fire these shutters before buying and all are smooth and accurate, another - a Vario #00 - was new stock from one of the UK's leading dealer and writers on collectible cameras. The other three came with lenses.

    That doesn't mean all shutters are good theogh, I've bought off this forum and the so called working Compur shutter packed up immediately but hey I unscrewed the lens cells and a tell-tale screw was missing it had quite obviously been tampered with by the seller. Only yesterday I picked up an Ebay purchase described as working perfectly, the camera came with it's original box but the shutters defunct, you take the risks but in this case I paid very little and it doesn't matter - I can probably repair this one myself. If not it's going on display anyway.

    The bottom line isa all thew shutters I've had to have repaired are 1960's or later and all my older shutters are plodding on

    Ian.

  9. #9

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    Re: Looking for lenses made by rodenstock and schneider for other brands

    Also the Caltar II-E lenses are Rodenstock Geronars. I have a 210mm f/6.8 Caltar II-E lens, I love it.
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  10. #10

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    Recent Sinar Sinarons are Rodenstocks, older ones may be Schneiders.

    You may pay more for Sinar- and Linhof-selected lenses because they are tested and chosen to be superior, better than average, in the same way that Caltars are cheaper because they are on the left side of the bell curve and are worse than average.

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