Caltar II N with green stripe

[photonsoup]

What does a green stripe mean, if anything on these lenses?

[Eric Biggerstaff]

I believe it indicates it is a re-badged Rodenstock Grandagon. What focal length?

[photonsoup]

I've been told that the Caltar II N is a Rodenstock Apo Sironar N. I have a 90mm and a 210mm (without a stripe). This one is 65mm and has a green stripe

[Taija71A]

I believe it indicates it is a re-badged Rodenstock Grandagon. What focal length?


... This one is 65mm and has a green stripe.
____

Eric is of course correct...
Your 65mm Caltar II-N lens is therefore a 're-badged' Rodenstock Grandagon or perhaps? a Grandagon-N.

Enjoy!
--
Best regards,

-Tim.
_________

[hiend61]

Your 65mm Caltar II-N with green stripe is a rebadged Rodenstock Grandagon-N of the last series made. Thread filter is 58mm. A great lens. I love mine. Green stripe is just decorative. From 1992 or so, Rodenstock decoraed lenses with color stripes. Green for Apo Grandagon and Grandagon N, white for Apo Sironar N, red for Apo Sironar S, yellow for Apo Sironar W, orange for Apo Macro Sironar and blue for Apo Ronar. Lenses are identical with or without color stripe, except Apo Sinaron S which I think had always a red stripe, the same as Apo macro Sironar.

[Richard Johnson]

It means it is a newer lens than the ones made without the stripes. Improved coatings, larger coverage with each model iteration although even older 1970s-era Rodenstocks are still good sharp lenses.

In terms of aging, some of the older Rodenstocks suffer from element separation more than other brands but we're talking about 30 year old lenses and you don't know their history. Schneiders suffer from the flaking black internal paint, aka Schniederitis. Nothing beats actually inspecting a lens and having return privileges.

[Oren Grad]

Your 65mm Caltar II-N with green stripe is a rebadged Rodenstock Grandagon-N of the last series made. Thread filter is 58mm. A great lens. I love mine. Green stripe is just decorative. From 1992 or so, Rodenstock decoraed lenses with color stripes. Green for Apo Grandagon and Grandagon N, white for Apo Sironar N, red for Apo Sironar S, yellow for Apo Sironar W, orange for Apo Macro Sironar and blue for Apo Ronar. Lenses are identical with or without color stripe, except Apo Sinaron S which I think had always a red stripe, the same as Apo macro Sironar.

This is it. Green stripe means late production run. Color-striped Caltar II-Ns are actually relatively uncommon compared to the non-striped ones - evidently Calumet's orders were already ramping down by the time Rodenstock changed the cosmetics.


larger coverage with each model iteration

There's no difference in coverage between a striped and a non-striped Caltar II-N. For all practical purposes they are the same model.


In terms of aging, some of the older Rodenstocks suffer from element separation more than other brands but we're talking about 30 year old lenses and you don't know their history.

All Caltar II-N production - color stripe or not - is from much later than the time when Rodenstock was having trouble with this.

[David Karp]

All Caltar II-N production - color stripe or not - is from much later than the time when Rodenstock was having trouble with this.

I think anyone who is thinking about issues like this with Rodenstock lenses are thinking about the Type S Caltars, which were equivalent to the Rodenstock Sironar lenses. These Type S Caltars are to distinguished from the Caltar-S II lenses which were made by Schneider.

Caltar II-N lenses are often available at great prices. You see them going for less than the equivalent Sironar-N or APO-Sironar-N lenses.

Oren, remember about ten years ago, maybe more, when there were discussions on the forum as to whether the Caltar II-N lenses were rejects or subjected to lower quality control standards than the regular Rodenstock lineup? People just could not get their minds around the concept of private labeling. I always thought of Caltar lenses as the Kenmore of the photography world!

[Kirk Gittings]

Yes they can be quite a deal these days. I picked one up this summer for my Wanderlust (a CII-N 6.8 90MM MC but no green stripe) in mint condition for around $165 in Chitown at the Wabash pilgrimage store-without my SAIC faculty discout I think it was $185. I had friends at Calumet back in the day who were involved in the deals with RS. They swore to me that they were no different than the RS offering......

[David Karp]

Wow, that is a great deal!

[Kirk Gittings]

I agree. I saw it in the window and thought there must be some issue with it and was prepared to accept a scratch or two for that price but the glass and the shutter and finish are mint!

[Alan Gales]

I always thought of Caltar lenses as the Kenmore of the photography world!

That's a great way of putting it!

Caltars may be Whirlpools, Maytags, Kitchen Aids ........ wait a minute! I mean Rodenstocks, Schneiders, Topcons, or Ilexes.

I own a Caltar ll-N (Grandagon) 90mm f/6.8 lens with the green stripe. It's a sharp lens and didn't cost me much. :cool:

[David Karp]

I have three Caltars, all 210mm! A 210mm Caltar II-E (the only LF lens I ever bought new) lives on my Crown Graphic, a 210mm Caltar II-N is a shorter focal length on my WP camera and sometimes sits on my 4x5, and a 210mm Caltar Pro (Schneider version) often goes out with me on my Walker Titan SF. The II-N was unbelievably inexpensive for the time in which I purchased it. It would still be a decent price today. The Caltar Pro was inexpensive, and showed up with a dented filter ring, which caused discussions that resulted in a price reduction!

[Bob Salomon]

" I always thought of Caltar lenses as the Kenmore of the photography world!"

And modern Sinaron are also re-labeled Rodenstock's.

[David Karp]

And modern Sinaron are also re-labeled Rodenstock's.

Yes, but they usually don't seem to sell used at the same discount as Caltars when compared to the price of used Rodenstock lenses. Perhaps they are the Kenmore Elite of the photography world! :-)

[Bob Salomon]

Yes, but they usually don't seem to sell used at the same discount as Caltars when compared to the price of used Rodenstock lenses. Perhaps they are the Kenmore Elite of the photography world! :-)

They were the same as the Caltars, except for the name.

[Mark Sawyer]

This is a bit outside my area of lens use, so forgive the ignorance...

I thought colored stripes on lenses had something to do with its apochromatic properties, hence the red, blue, and green stripes on the Apo-Lanthar, (it focused all three of the main color bands on the same plane).

[Louis Pacilla]

This is a bit outside my area of lens use, so forgive the ignorance...

I thought colored stripes on lenses had something to do with its apochromatic properties, hence the red, blue, and green stripes on the Apo-Lanthar, (it focused all three of the main color bands on the same plane).

Not so much in this case Mark. Just a way to separate the different designs/series other then the shape & series names. By adding color coding it was much easier to identify the lens at a glance. They did add a couple shorter FL APO Grandagons and maybe a few other minor improvements in a few models & FL. Not a APO stripe kind of thing that seemed popular in the 50's.

[Oren Grad]

Oren, remember about ten years ago, maybe more, when there were discussions on the forum as to whether the Caltar II-N lenses were rejects or subjected to lower quality control standards than the regular Rodenstock lineup?

Yup. :)

[Bob Salomon]

Not so much in this case Mark. Just a way to separate the different designs/series other then the shape & series names. By adding color coding it was much easier to identify the lens at a glance. They did add a couple shorter FL APO Grandagons and maybe a few other minor improvements in a few models & FL. Not a APO stripe kind of thing that seemed popular in the 50's.

Rodenstock, when they introduced the stripe with the introduction of the Aop Sironar-S series, had a lot of lenses on the arrest.

Apo Sironar-N from 100 to 480, Apo Sironar-S from 135 to 360, Apo Grandagon and Grandagon-N from 35 to 200, Apo Ronar from 150 to 480, Makro Sironar in 210 and 300 mm.

The stripe served two major purposes. First, for the user, it made it simpler for the shooter to know which lens was what at a quick glance.
For marketing purposes Rodenstock produced coverage charts with the circle of illumination fo each lens superimposed over rectangles illustrating the size of 45, 57 and 810 film.
By color coding the lenses they then could use the same colors for the lenses and make viewing and reading the graphic very quick and easy. Especially when trying to determine which circle was for three similar lenses like the 150 mm. Apo Sironar-N, S and W.

These charts were in the brochures as well as on line and available as a life size poster.

[john borrelli]

Since Sinar was mentioned, if memory serves, Sinarons were a little tricky, their S's are N's, and their SE's are S's.

[Oren Grad]

Since Sinar was mentioned, if memory serves, Sinarons were a little tricky, their S's are N's, and their SE's are S's.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?14151-Sinaron-S-Sironar-S&p=117577&viewfull=1#post117577