Super Angulon 1960 vintage - a good buy?

[mo alam]

Hello All,

I am on a limited budget but have the chance to buy a good-condition Super Angul un 90mm f8 in Synchro-Compur for a reasonable price. The serial number of this lens indicates the year of manufacture to be 1959/60. I have two questions:

1. Are there any differences in performance between the Super Angulons of this v intage and much later ones? 2. Given a choice of the different 4x5 90mm lenses available, which would repres ent the best value for money (i.e. cheapest but would return a decent optical pe rformance).

Thanks for your help.

[John Elstad]

Hi Mo, the important thing about the lens you're considering is that it is coated--not multi-coated, but single-coated. This is much better than no coating at all. Yes, multi-coating is better than single-coating, but in my opinion only marginally better and not worth the additional expense if you're on a tight budget.

I have almost the identical lens you're considering and I've been very happy with it. It's very sharp with lots of contrast and a gigantic image circle (215mm). The only drawback I can think of is that it's quite big--much bigger than the regular Angulons (which have much smaller image circles). One other thing you should consider is that the shutter size is probably a Copal #00 (d = ~26.5mm) which is non-standard and it may be difficult to find a lensboard that fits it.

So, in short, I'd recommend buying it if the price is good. For what it's worth, I paid $180 for mine on eBay and then spent another $80 to overhaul the shutter (I knew I would have to do this when I bought it).

Oh, Schneider's website has tons of great information on all their lenses both current and past. Check out the links under the Info heading:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/

Good luck!

[Roger Rouch]

I have a similar lense as well. Purchased for economy as it was my impression (and this forum's recommendation) that it would be a good value. I have little to compare it against, but have been satisfied with one exception. The shutter will probably require you to use the bulb setting and then lock the shutter open using the cable lock in order to focus. You might check, but I would guess this is the case. This is slightly less convenient that a copal or other shutter that has a lever to open the shutter to focus. I've considered selling it for that reason only, as it requires a slight bit longer you me to set up. As such, I've checked eBay, I have seen a few recently going in the $300+/- range. I paid about that for mine and the shutter had been recently cleaned and adjusted.

I didn't have any trouble at all finding someone to drill a lensboard for the "00" shutter and would think it shouldn't be a problem.

[Tony Galt]

You can probably figure on having the shutter CLA'd. If not, it will be a pleasa nt surprise, but it is a good idea to budget for it. I bought an undrilled lens board (well... it did have a pilot hole in the right place), took it to a machin e shop and they bored it for me in about 20 minutes for $15.00. The 00 is very s mall and that probably saves a little weight, if you have to carry the thing aro und.