What coating do I have?

[Richard Deimel]

I have been offered an older Fujinon f9 240-A lens questionably MC. However, when I put it under a bare tungsten bulb, I get several vivid reflections, but they are all bright green reflections. If the lens is MC there should be vivid reflections in several colors, but if the lens is single coated the reflections should be a pale single color. This lens is neither. What coating do I have?

[Jim Galli]

Richard, I don't think there were too many of the 240 f9A's in the single coated era but I'm uncertain of that. If it was single coated though, I think you'd see a lot of straw colored coatings. Try some different light sources and angles to see if you can't get some purples and oranges to emerge. Is it in the Copal 0 with the chrome speed change ring but looks like the most modern all black ones?

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

With fuji lenses if the lettering is in the front it is single coated. If the lettering is on the outside of the barrel it is multicoated.

[Aaron van de Sande]

My old minolta 35mm lenses were mc and green.

Mr. Grimes told me some time ago that a perfect coating would be invisible, so it really doesn't mean much to go by the coating's appearance. Fancy looking coatings are more for marketing than utility.

I do agree though that most single coatings that I have seen are straw colored.

[John D Gerndt]

I have two fuji lenses. The 125mm f8 has all green reflections which I assume is single coated. I have a Fujinon 125mm f5.6 that has coatings in several colors. The f5.6 lens is new to me and I have not shot it yet. The f8 is said to be 6 elements in 6 groups and should not then be so hot a performer in single coat, yet, it has produced chromes as fine as any MC lens I have. I can hardly wiat to see what the f5.6 does!

Just to add to you confusion, the Caltar IIN I have is reportedly a Rodenstock APO and seems to have only one color coating (red). That lens (a plasmat) also produces great, saturated chromes and I am very picky about such things. My conclusion is that you cannot be so sure of a lens quality until you shoot it. If you have a personal standard (like a reference chrome) I would ask to shoot some like film before commiting to ownership. That said, I have not read anything dispariging about Fuji lenses, even the single coated ones.

Cheers,