8x10 enlarging lenses - el Nikkor - Apo Nikkor

[Torsten]

Hi, I'm looking for an excellent enlarging lens for 8x10. So far I understood that the 300mm Rodagon, and the 240 el-Nikkor (if you find them!) are good. What I wonder about is why not using an Apo-Nikkor Repro-lens of let's say 300mm? They should be perfectly corrected, or, they have a smaller aperture, but they should work perfectly...?
Any comments?

thank's
Torsten

[Peter K]

Of course you can use a process lens as enlarging lens, but with a lens like the Componar 1:5,6/300 it's easier to focus and align the image. And the performance of such a lens is as good when stopped down to working f-stop.

Peter K

[Kevin Crisp]

I bought the 210 El Nikkor for 5X7 and tried it for 8X10 and found (to my surprise) it worked very well. It is quite large, though. The bellow the lens filter tray is going to be a problem, which means I have to use the sheet size filters under the light source for VC printing. I'm not sure those filters are available any longer. This lens is often available used for a very reasonable price. The 240 HD APO-Beseler lens that came with my enlarger has been quite satisfactory too (Rodenstock) and it is much smaller, can be used with the filter tray, and goes for next to nothing used.

[resummerfield]

The APO-Nikkor process lenses have a smaller angle, around 46 degrees, I think, vs. the El Nikkor’s stated angle of around 52 degrees. To get coverage and good corner resolution for 8x10, you would need a longer APO-Nikkor—most likely at least 360mm and perhaps 420mm—and you might run out of bellows.

Then you have the problem of the reduced f9.0 aperture to focus, as Peter K mentioned.

I’ve used a 270mm f10 wide-field Nikon process lens to enlarge 8x10, but the 300mm El Nikkor was much better. Even the 240mm El Nikkor was better at the edges than the process lens.

[John Kasaian]

Aren't the Nikkor process lenses you're considering something like f/9? Thats pretty dim for focusing an enlarger I'd think.

[Geary Lyons]

I initially used 240 & 300 Rodenstock process lenses with my 8x10 enlarger. They worked well, were a bit of a challenge @ f9, but the major issue, for me, was the ergonomics. Enlarger lenses are purpose designed. They are easier to use and do provide better results due to the optimization.

With an 8x10 enlarger you are already into heavy machinery, having the right tools really helps the process. But, reality is that a usable lens, in hand, is infinitely more desirable than not having the perfect lens!

Cheers,
Geary

[Torsten]

thank's for your posting! What do you call in that particular situation ergonomics? The fact that the scale is not lighted? This is for sure no big fun. On the other side, I could consider process lenses are much better corrected than their enlargement counterparts,
that's just an educated guess, to be verified... The price ratio between a 300 process lens of good quality and the same enlargment lens can be close to 10....!

cheers
Torsten

[neil poulsen]

There are the Apo El-Nikkor lenses, but they're expensive and hard to find. They're considered a high end enlarging lens.

[Tony Lakin]

Hi, I'm looking for an excellent enlarging lens for 8x10. So far I understood that the 300mm Rodagon, and the 240 el-Nikkor (if you find them!) are good. What I wonder about is why not using an Apo-Nikkor Repro-lens of let's say 300mm? They should be perfectly corrected, or, they have a smaller aperture, but they should work perfectly...?
Any comments?

thank's
Torsten

Hi
I have used a 270mm Schneider G Claron Wide angle process lens for enlarging 10x8 and found it to be an excellent lens, I have no experience of Nikkor process lenses, however A. Adams used one on his horizontal enlarger and we all know how particular he was about his print quality.

Good Luck:)

[aduncanson]

I recently found myself looking for a single enlarging lens for 8x10 & 5x7. I settled on a 240mm G-Claron as wide enough to cover 8x10 and short enough provide sufficient magnification for my purposes in 5x7 without poking a hole through my basement ceiling into the dining room. In the back of my mind is the possibility of putting it in a Copal #1 and using it as a taking lens on occasion. The 240mm Beseler-HD mentioned above is (per Mr. Solomon) a very similar Rodenstock Apo-Gerogon.

Unfortunately I have zero results to report yet, my darkroom is coming together a little more slowly than I hoped- drat!

- Alan

[Brad Rippe]

What is the going rate for these lenses? For example, the El Nikkor 300mm?
-Brad

[Northwest]

Hello again, Torsten.

For what it's worth.

Both a friend of mine and I used 300mm f9 Apo-Nikkors as 8x10 enlarging lenses. At one point, my friend got a good deal on a new 300mm El-Nikkor. He bought it, tested it against the Apo-Nikkor and returned the El-Nikkor (an arrangement agreed upon before the purchase), because he found it to be no better than the process lens. He's never let price get in the way of owning the best photographic equipment; he returned the lens because even at significant magnification he could not tell the difference between photos printed by the different lenses. Contrast was also a draw.

For several decades my friend has been a successful professional photographer of uncompromising standards (some might say he's unrealistically uncompromising; I never thought so). If the El-Nikkor had been any better at all, believe me he would have kept it. I bought an Apo-Nikkor on his recommendation and never regretted it.

Neither of us had trouble focusing the lens. Of course, eyes are all different.

It's true that the El-Nikkor is designed as an enlarging lens and may be a bit easier to use. Again tastes vary, but I never found the disadvantages of the Apo lens to be anything but minor. The price difference wasn't. No one is likely to be dissatisfied with the El-Nikkor. Some might find the Apo Nikkor's minor disadvantages decisive. However, I don't believe that anyone would be able to tell the difference in a photographs printed using either lens.

Full disclosure: I still have the Apo-Nikkor and at some point will sell it. It is carefully stored 1200 miles away, not readily accessible, and I'm not offering it for sale now. I'm simply relating my experience with the lens.

[panchro-press]

I've always liked the Kodak Enlarging Ektanon. Have they fallen into disrepute?