Besides the Rodenstocks and Schneiders there used to be the brilliant EL-Nikkors and the Vivitar VHE
The EL-Nikkors were in my youth the best lenses around, and were highly sought after. At some point in the 80s the N series came out and everybdy swoon, even CTEIN used to say that the APO-El-Nikkor N were the best enlarger lenses.
I have an old 50/2.8 (still says Nippon-Kogaku) and is great for Black and White. 6 Elements in 4 groups and sharp like nails up to 20x enlargement.
I have used it for macro as well, and it performs brilliant.
The Vivitar VHE were a step beyonde the Nikkors, I think those were Rodenstocks as well; I used the 75mm, and it was gorgeous.
However this weekend I got a Fujinon-EX 50/4. The lens is clean and has a lot of blades in the iris (9)
Anybody knows anything about this series of lenses?
It seems to be a rebadged Fujinon ES - a 4 element lens. I cleaned it last night and the glass is clean, blades are snappy but the white letters are covered in nicotine.
Enlarger Glass
Re: Enlarger Glass
In my newspaper days, I used the El-Nikkor. Around 2003, I bought some Rodenstocks, but I moved so many times that I haven't had a change to use them. ![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Re: Enlarger Glass
I found that the 50mm 1:4 El-Nikkor had to be used stopped down to at least f8 to achieve sharpness across the frame. My Ernst Leitz Focotar 5cm 1:4.5 is sharp corner to corner wide open at f4.5. and is one of the finest enlarger lenses I have ever used. Another great enlarger lens was the Minolta Rokkor 50mm 1:4 and also the Rokkor 80mm 1:4.5. I once had a Kodak branded Rodenstock 5cm 1:5.6 microfisch enlarging lens that was absolutely spectacular, which could project a 30mm x 30mm microfisch image to 48 x 48 inches with perfect sharpness and zero distortion.
GrahamS
Age brings wisdom....or age shows up alone. You never know.
Age brings wisdom....or age shows up alone. You never know.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest