Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>You wrote 14:24:24 -0500 >In one of the past Leica Users Digests I saw a note about using the 50mm SM >Elmar as an enlarger lens. Was this really done and did Leica endorse doing >this? Which enlarger was suggested to use? I ask because I enjoy the >history of >the Leica camera and any unusual uses of the equipment. >Thanks, >Tim Tim, In all the early Leica manuals it was assumed that anyone buying a Leitz enlarger would use his Leica camera lens in it. More recently, W.D.G. Cox looked at the performance of some camera lenses (including an Elmar 2.8/50) when used in an enlarger: "At f4 showed the camera lenses showed good central sharpness. The enlarging lens (a four element type) at its full aperture of f4.5 showed poor performance overall, just adequate for focusing centrally, and with severe vignetting, which was completely absent from all the camera lenses by f4. By f8 all the lenses were giving good image quality across the frame, the Elmar being the best, with the enlarging lens slightly softer in the corners." The best enlarging lenses such as Leitz Focotar, of course, perform better than any of these. Cheers, Kirk Turk