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#1
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Replacement enlarger lens
I have an Axomatic 5 standard enlarger and the lens attached to it is falling to pieces! It will turn without the little stops that signify the f points unless you push it upwards. I was looking through ebay to find a few bits and there are lots of Nikon EL Nikkor 50mm F4 Enlarger Lens available. Are the fitments for enlarger lens standard? How do I know which will fit and will this one? How much difference is there in quality? All my prints are taking 1+ minutes so maybe there is a problem with the light coming through my current lens so I want to replace it asap.
Thanks everyone.
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Sorry for all the questions but I am totally new to all this and it isn't as easy as it looks Been heavily into digital for several years and just starting with the art of film and developing the film and prints myself. I am here to learn and to share with others. |
#2
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The standard thread for the smaller lens, those of 135mm and below is the 39mm screw thread.
There is a problem somewhere within your enlarging process since your exposure times are in excess of a minute, it may be a fault in your lens or it may lie elsewhere. Generally quality 35mm enlarging lens will have a maximum aperture of £2.8, and I would suggest you buy such a lens as focusing is easier at f2.8 than at f4. |
#3
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What lens have you got on your enlarger? some enlarger lens pull down to lose the click stops and push up to re-engage the clickstops, have a meopta meogon s lens that does that and I would'nt change it, it is very sharp and very good contrast, and was made for meopta by Shineder, on the same production line, and shenider pulls down to release the click stops, so don't condem your lens on that bascis,Richard
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jerseyinblackandwhite.blogspot.com |
#4
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Quote:
I'm looking at a number of enlargers too so might well leave it till I find one. My general plan is to try and find something capable of B&W + Colour from 35mm to 6x7 then I just need the one!
__________________
Sorry for all the questions but I am totally new to all this and it isn't as easy as it looks Been heavily into digital for several years and just starting with the art of film and developing the film and prints myself. I am here to learn and to share with others. |
#5
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From what you write, it seems that your lens' iris mechanism isn't working properly and may be permanently stopped down. If you don't want to try to repair it, fortunately 50mm is a focal length you can easily buy.
My Meopta enlarger (the same make as yours) came with a lens mount that accepts 39mm threaded lenses. This is the most common size, but adaptors are available for lenses with smaller threads. The easiest way is probably to ask the seller of a lens what the thread size is. Regarding quality, a huge variety is available and even the cheap ones seem to work reasonably well if you stop them well down and don't expect very large prints from them. If you go for one of the well known brands such as Schneider, Nikon, Rodenstock you should be on very safe ground provided it hasn't been dropped or otherwise damaged. I possess lenses made by Nikon and Schneider and can vouch for their fine results. I suppose to a great extent, the new price of a lens would give some guide to the quality, but unless you have a particular need for a wide aperture (such as F/2.8) you could be spending money unnecessarily, so you could get similar quality but with a smaller aperture of about F/4 or F/5.6. A lens I have which I can assure you works very well at a moderate price (if price is important)is the Minolta 50mm F/4.5. So far as I know it was only made with a 39mm thread, but I know that Schneider and others made theirs with different thread sizes, including 39mm, so do check to see if you need to obtain an adaptor, or if a replacement mount may be available for the enlarger, something I have never enquired about. |
#6
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Your f4 EL NIkkor is a 4 element lens. Amongst quality 6 elements lenses are EL Nikkor f2.8, Schneider Componon (S) f2.8 Rodenstock Rodagon f2.8
From personal experience I can tell you that the EL Nikkor and Componon S are both cracking lenses. |
#7
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Indeed, get a 6 element lens; I started with a poor Rodenstock ROGONAR f/2.8 which is a 3 element lens only.
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#8
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The 50mm El Nikkor f2.8 is the one I have and the f2.8 is great for focussing. The light from the enlarger shines into the fstop dial so you can see which stop you are at which is very handy.
It looks as if Nova Imaging on e-bay are selling a number of El Nikkors but most seem to be f4. Probably worth the extra expense to get f2.8 and 6 element. A good lens is really key to getting good prints and it will last a lifetime Mike |
#9
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That said, I was quite happy with my El Nikkor 50mm F2.8, until I managed to find & buy a Rodenstock APO Rodagon on ebay (for inredibly good price!). If you see 50mm Rodagon or Schneider Componon, go for it. Avoid Schneider Componars or Rodenstock Omegarons. A good Meopta Meogon can be nearly as good as Schneider Componon. Mind you if I ask how do your negatives look like? I would suspect a dense negative here if exposure time is beyond 1+ minutes. Hard to tell without seeing the negative, there can still be a problem with the lens, however ... if your negative would be of 'normal' density, 1+ minute even at F22 would be a bit too long... |
#10
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Again, thanks everyone. I will have a look for the f2.8 version if I can but I do have a watch on a few new enlargers (MF + Colour) so I will see what I get. I have several MF enlarger lenses sat in a box already.
I don't think that my negs are particularly dense. If you look at my Albert docs images these are all straight scans of the negs other than the one which is my first print.
__________________
Sorry for all the questions but I am totally new to all this and it isn't as easy as it looks Been heavily into digital for several years and just starting with the art of film and developing the film and prints myself. I am here to learn and to share with others. |
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