Fujinon 180 A f/9 single or multicoated? Performance for landscape and macro?

[l2oBiN]

Did the fujinon 180 a f9 come in multicoated and single coated versions? How can I tell the difference? I have heard that this lens was designed for macro shooting (1:10 to 1:1), but I have not seen any examples or read about it's macro performance. At the same time I have heard that it performs very well for distant landscapes? Does anyone have any experience with this lens for macro and distant landscapes? How dies it perform versus other lenses in it's focal range? Also what is it's performance like versus the Nikon m 200? Also does the performance differ between single and multicoated versions of the lens?

[drew.saunders]

According to http://www.willwilson.com/fujinonlc.html
Yes, there was a single coated version, look for the lens marking on the inside of the filter ring rather than on the lens barrel.

The picture at the top shows a whole lot of lenses that appear to be of the "inside filter ring" style of marking.

[Sal Santamaura]

Did the fujinon 180 a f9 come in multicoated and single coated versions? How can I tell the difference?...Drew has the answer.


...How dies it perform versus other lenses in it's focal range? Also what is it's performance like versus the Nikon m 200? Also does the performance differ between single and multicoated versions of the lens?See here for that information:

http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/testing.html

I'd expect contrast to be a bit better with the EBC version. Otherwise they should perform the same, whether close up or at landscape distances.

[Drew Wiley]

As noted above, all the recent versions of this lens are multicoated. Contrast is high
and performance is exceptional both closeup and at inifinity. The image circle is large for 4x5 and sufficient for conservative 5x7 use, but not suitable for 8X10. I have never had a flare issue with this lens, but imagine the 200M would be excellent
in this respect or even better due to only 6 air-to-glass surfaces, but with a smaller
effective image circle. I've never owned an older single-coated 180A and only know
of it second-hand from what was probably a superficial test by a friend of mine.
As someone already pointed out, just look for the lettering on the outside of the
barrel and you will have the newer version.

[eric black]

I used to own both the Nikkor 200 M and the Fuji 180 A. I now only have the Fuji- some of the downselection decision went to my preference for the focal length but I also felt the Fuji was a stronger performer for close up work. I have one of the EBC versions, I cannot speak to the single coated versions.

[l2oBiN]

So the ebc version (lettering on outside of front barell) can be in a chrome copal shutter. Did they come in all black shutter? Also, I am interested in it's ability to be used for closeup. Has anyone compared them to real modern macro lenses?

[Drew Wiley]

They're still being made and do come in all black current shutters. They are extremely
good closeup, depending on how you define macro. But if you are taking products shots of something like diamond rings or cataloging insects for a museum, a dedicated macro lens will perform better at 1:1 or greater magnifications. The problem is, a macro lens won't be good for much else, while the Fuji A is highly versatile.

[Lynn Jones]

I was associated with Fujinons for inportation and distribution for some time.

Fujinon A was conventionally coated while the AS was multicoated (EBC). Both are excllent, Apochromatic, about 70 degree coverage and superb. The focal lengths were 180, 240, 300, and 360.

While there were optimized for 1:1, I've used all but the 360 for infinity and thought they were great.

Lynn

[Drew Wiley]

Lynn - I use my 360's A's all the way from 1:1 to infinity, and this focal length is also
stellar over the full range.

[l2oBiN]

I was associated with Fujinons for inportation and distribution for some time.

Fujinon A was conventionally coated while the AS was multicoated (EBC). Both are excllent, Apochromatic, about 70 degree coverage and superb. The focal lengths were 180, 240, 300, and 360.

While there were optimized for 1:1, I've used all but the 360 for infinity and thought they were great.

Lynn


Lyn, what do you mean by conventionally coated? Single coated?

[Lynn Jones]

Many usually called them "single coated" however some companies occasionally used secondary coatings for certain elements and you would never notice a long time ago, well befor the Pentax approach. I suspect that the reason was that they didn't want the competition to know, thinking this was a secret. This was especially true for certain telephotos and super wides. I'm quite sure that Leitz did this on at least one of their lenses, as well as Nikkor. Because I was once in the telescope business dealing with coating companies, I discovered that there were several companies in the US that did two or more coatings for various lens formulations in the late 60's and early 70's. The patented system that we recognized by Asahi was the "Super Multicoated" with seven layers (people in the optics business would laugh and suggest that this was excellsive since you could achieve the same effect with 2 or 3 coatings).

Lynn