Enlarger lenses

[BetterSense]

I just bought a speed graphic but I don't have any lens. I probably won't either until next month or later since the acquisition blew the already-taxed photo budget. I have a Fujinon 75mm enlarging lens and some 135mm enlarging lens that I don't know what it is. What happens if you use enlarging lenses? Total protonic reversal?

[Dan Fromm]

Well, the 75 won't cover 2x3 at distance, let alone 4x5, but the 135 ought to cover 4x5 with no movements. Lack of movements shouldn't be a problem with a Speed, which doesn't offer much.

FWIW, I've tried a number of enlarging lenses at distance, never got good results. My second-best, and second by a slim margin, macro lens is an enlarging lens.

Try the 135. It will get you shooting and you might like the results.

Cheers,

Dan

[Ernest Purdum]

You might try the 135 at two or three feet subject distance from the lens. Who knows, you might like it.

[ic-racer]

If you have the focal plane shutter you can mount anything on there, fresnel, magnifying glass, closeup lens, pinhole, enlarger lens...Have fun!

[erie patsellis]

for table top distance work, Componons or other enlarging lenses are ideal, I have a set mounted in DB lensboards just for this type of work.

[Eric Rose]

I have used a Rodenstock 135 enlarging lens on a Speed with great results. Give it a try but just remember they don't have the same coatings as normal taking lenses so try and keep the sun behind you.

[Lynn Jones]

The 135's and 150's are optimized for about 4 diameters of enlargement. they work well from about twice that to long studio distances.

75's and 80.s are usually optimized for about 6 diameters of enlargement.

Most conventional lenses are optimized for infinity. Enblarging lenses as camera lenses have reversed optical geometry and so for macro they may profit from reversed mounting.

Lynn

[Dave Brown]

Try it. You have nothing to lose. And contrary to the conventional wisdom, many enlarging lenses work just fine at infinity. Chances are your friends won't be able to tell the difference between a photo taken with your enlarging lens and one taken with the latest $1,800 APO whatchamacallit.

[jnantz]

you might email jim galli and see if he has any 127 tominons for sale ..
he was selling them for a long time ...
i have one that came with my speed graphic, and it has never let me down ...
this was shot with a 127 tominon (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showpost.php?p=503110&postcount=489)

have fun
john

[Dan Fromm]

The 135's and 150's are optimized for about 4 diameters of enlargement. they work well from about twice that to long studio distances.

75's and 80.s are usually optimized for about 6 diameters of enlargement.

<snip>

LynnLynn, why do you believe this?

I ask because Schneider asserts fairly strongly that Comparons (all focal lengths) are optimized for 2x - 6x, Componons (all focal lengths) for 8x - 12x. See http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/archiv/pdf/componon_comparon.pdf Ignorance of German is no excuse.

[Carsten Wolff]

"Optimized" and "give excellent results" are to pairs of shoes that might fit either.
Numerous G-Claron, Apo-Artar and the like users can attest to that. I have used e.g. a 19" Apo-Artar, a 150mm Componon (screwed into a #1 shutter) and a few Enlarging Raptars at long focal distances with results that were up there with everything else. Just try the 135. No offense, but here are a lot of lens snobs out there and it's not as if that experiment is going to cost you anything....

[Lynn Jones]

Lynn, why do you believe this?

I ask because Schneider asserts fairly strongly that Comparons (all focal lengths) are optimized for 2x - 6x, Componons (all focal lengths) for 8x - 12x. See http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/archiv/pdf/componon_comparon.pdf Ignorance of German is no excuse.

Hi Dan,

Comparons are different, are re-spaced 4 element tessar type lenses, and have slightly different optimization based on best performance. They have incredible contrast and performance. I always loved them, especially the focal length for 4x5.

The Fuji lens in quesion is a a plasmat , all of them from 50mm to 135mm and were known to have that optimization. The Componons are either gauss or plasmat and usually have the optimization I talked about. The Componars were 3 element cook varients and were suprisingly good in performance.

Lynn

[pablo batt]

rear element of componon 210mm reversed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30665456@N06/3881778256/

[aduncanson]

Fuji made two lines of enlarging lenses as described in the following brochure.

http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/fujinon_1.html

The Fujinon EP is a plamat, the Fujinon ES is a tessar. In both lines the 75mm lens is optimized for a magnification of 7X and a "useful magnification range" of 1.5X to 15X. There is essentially no difference in the coverage claimed for the two 75s.