Enlarge lens 150 vs 135

[Mark J]

It should be great.
I think this market has got very confused with people using enlarger lenses for macro 35mm work. Maybe the older El-Nikkor 135 has some cult following ?
I myself just went looking for a good 135 to enlarge 4x5" IR this year, and found a late Rodagon with some marks on the barrel & without lens caps for £69 in the UK. Elsewhere they can be up to £250 in near-mint condition.

[Mal Paso]

I paid $61 for the single coated 135mm El Nikkor in nice condition 6 years ago and the late model 150mm Componon S was sitting there for days at $115 until I could stand it no longer. LOL I've run into a few motivated sellers lately that have lowered my resistance.

There is one Componon S for $700 that doesn't look as nice. Early Multi-coat El Nikkors $150, late $270. Several late Beseler Rodagons for $115 but shipping was high.

[Chuck Pere]

Are Componon-S lens multi-coated or only the APO HM series?

[Mal Paso]

Are Componon-S lens multi-coated or only the APO HM series?

The late model ones are but I don't know the history as well as Nikon. Everything I purchased in the early '70s was multi-coated including the 150mm El Nikkor with the all black barrel. Excellent lens, just not fireproof.

Just got an offer $100+ shipping excellent Componon S, the deal I got was slightly better. It seems to confirm a soft market.

[ic-racer]

$10,000 enlarging lens? Nothing I ever heard of in a Durst mount, but just about anything could be adapted I suppose.

[ic-racer]

I'm not sure about the current market for large format enlarger lenses. Quite a while back a got a set of silver, Durst branded, Componon lenses for less than $100 each. These went from 80mm to 360mm. I did sell most of those silver lenses maybe 3 or 4 years ago to get the set of modern black bodied Componon-S large format enlarging lenses 80 to 300mm. These were the top of the line lenses for Durst with the Durst mounts. I paid quite a bit for them and they were difficult to find in the Durst mounts.

[Drew Wiley]

$11,000 was a conservative 90's price, Ice-Racer. I understated it. You'd pay way more today if one ever turned up. Nobody paying that kind of price is mistaken about its application. If they want to best of the best when it comes to enlarging, and have the means, that's what they do. A nice complement to a $90,000 8x10 horizontal enlarger. Pride of ownership, I guess. But I can't afford a Ferrari or Lamborghini either, not even a Lexus. Does it make a bit of visual difference in the actual print? Probably not.

My more affordable (mostly free) regular f/9 Apo Nikkor lenses thread right into common Durst L rings, even the 360; but the massive 360 f/5.6 EL Nikkor most certainly will not! (neither of these should be confused with a rare Apo El Nikkor of that focal length).

One of the best 135's out there is allegedly the Fuji EX; but it unfortunately has an odd thread size.

[Daniel Unkefer]

I listened to the advice I got and found complete sets of silver Componons, some of which I cleaned out myself. Ken Ruth (Repair Guru Photography on Bald Mountain) explained that the Componon comes apart in complete optical groups. Use spanners and take the groups to the kitchen sink. Dawn Dishwashing Detergent makes 'em shiny clean again, some of mine were down right milky, they all came clean in the end except one. One 360mm was cloudy in the middle, I traded Jason Lane some Speed Plates for that one. I really think these are every bit as good as silver Schneider Symmars, in fact side by side, it's hard to tell them apart. I paid $50-$100 for each, ended up with a set of complete matching pairs for my TLR Normas.

These olde lenses can be underrated. Work just fine for my uses. 16x20 is as big as I can go.

[xkaes]

One of the best 135's out there is allegedly the Fuji EX; but it unfortunately has an odd thread size.

I have no complaints with mine, but I'll admit that the 53mm x 0.75mm thread is not common -- but it has a very convenient front thread of 55mm to make up for that. I found mine, used, at a great price, and already on a Beseler 4x5 board. The EX lenses have 6/6 designs, EBC coating, and wide angle of coverage & Image circle, but Fuji made a few other 135mm lenses as well -- here are some details:

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/enlarge.htm

[Mark J]

Thanks, I dug out some of the info on that one.
It's interesting that it's a double-gauss type construction, unlike all of the other premium brands which are Plasmats. I wonder if the 105 is the same.

In the meantime -
I received my bargain Rodagon-N 135 today, very quick. Its looks generally fine although with a slight dinge in the outer plastic barrel, optics are clean and unmarked though. On a quick check with grain magnifier and a 'busy' 4x5" neg from a few years ago, all looks well as best I can tell in centre and four corners, so will try out soon when I get some new 20x16 paper.

I also did a comparison test of my newly-acquired 100 Componon-S against my existing El-Nikkor N 105 at the weekend. I just did small prints in the corners on a 20x16" enlargement from 6x9cm. Focused in the centre of the picture. To my slight surprise, the Nikkor was just better, though you have to put your face up to the print to see the difference. I'll do one more test soon and then sell on whichever loses.

Thanks for the info on the full Apo-El-Nikkor range, Drew. I had missed the 170mm from the earlier series.
It's quite odd that they went for x1.7 to x3 on that one - to be honest it must work outside of that range, there's no way to make it so specialised from that lens construction, so I expect it's pretty impressive at x4 , shame they aren't more common or cheaper !