If one is lucky he might find a universal diaphragm lens holder.Originally Posted by Keith Pitman
If one is lucky he might find a universal diaphragm lens holder.
From 8x10 a 240mm is good for small prints (2x or 3x), for big prints a 240 behaves like a 120mm for 4x5: a lot of fall-off. For big prints a 300 is better because of the lower fall-off.
I had no problem with that making 16x20s from 8x10 negatives with a 240mm lens. It'd be even less of a problem with bigger prints.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
There's a nice APO Rodagon 300mm on eBay now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rodenstock-...MAAOSwp7Rb9fLN and 2 non-APO 360mm that are cheaper.
That’s a process lens not an enlarging lens, the 180mm was the longest Apo Rodagon enlarging lens and that was for 4x5. It was replaced by the much better 150mm Apo Rodagon N.
Buy a different lens if you want to enlarge. Either the Rodagon or, if you want murals, the Rodagon G. Or both.
Sure the 240 would be great for horizontal, knowing he will be printing on fabric, especially if the OP has a smaller space for the enlarger and track. I have actually used a monster big burning card (like in the video above) and it was easier to get in between the enlarger and the paper with the 360.
Sometimes I see 360 as the 'normal' lens for the Horizontal Durst, maybe because with the 300mm you can't go smaller than 16x20" and with the 240 nothing less than 24x30" (the enlarger is too close to the wall with the recommended rail placement).
There are no reasonably priced 300 mm enlarging lenses on the auction site at this time. (there are some 360 reasonably priced lenses though) Just be patient. There is also a 305 G-Claron, which although a process lens, it's reasonable and would get you started. I paid under $100 for my 240 Rodagon, and you should be able to find the lens you want for under 3 bills. Whatever you get, make sure it's not a fixed aperture lens and is an actual enlarging lens with an adjustable aperture. Just don't pay stupid money for one. If you buy it right and you don't like it, you can sell it and get a different lens. The 240 and 300 Rodagons are optimized for a 4x enlargement and usable from 2x to 8x. The Rodagon-G is optimized for a 20x enlargement and usable from 8x to 30x. If you want to make 60x80" enlargements (or bigger), which is roughly 10x the Rodagon-G may be a better fit. Bob, feel free to chime in! You might also check with KHB Phootografix in Canada. Though not cheap, they usually have a nice selection and are glad to speak with you. Now try to find one! Any one of these large lenses will mount to a the DeVere Series 500 inverted panel and you're probably looking at a custom mount. I'd send it in to SKG for mounting!
Saying numbers, for 8x10 a 240mm enlarger lens will have a fall-off of around 3 stops in the corner for big prints, if wide open.
With the 240 lens well stopped fall-off (big prints) is reduced to around 1.5 stops in the corner, which still it's a lot.
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Using a 240mm for 8x10 it's geometrically the same than using a 120mm for 4x5: not recomended.
A 240mm it is suitable for 8x10 in next cases:
> If we enlarge a crop.
> For small enlargements, as we give bellows draw to focus... the image circle in the negative plane grows. As we take the center fall-off is lower.
> If we had fall-off in the negative, say a Nikon SW 120 shot, the fall-off in the enlargement corrects the flaw in the negative.
For a big print a 240 is troubles, we have to stop more than we want to decrease fall-off, requiring even longer exposures than the ususal long ones in big prints, this complicates contrast control because reciprocity failure in the paper toe (scene highlights)... And we still have a remarkable fall-off !
Exactly the same than 120 for 4x5... it can be used, but the thing has drawbacks. 150 or 180 is better for 4x5 than 120. So for 8x10 proportionally it's 300 or 360.
It is true that for printing 16x20 we can use the 240, in the same way that we may use a 120mm to print 8x10 from 4x5 negatives, because the bellows draw is to help.
How close are your rails to the wall?
Nice post, plus not all 240s are equal in coverage.
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