Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc wrote: >At 01:15 AM 1999-01-28 -0800, Mark Rabiner wrote: >>Can anyone straighten me out on how long ago they stopped making them, which >>one to get, what they would cost (I'll go look through a shutterbug but >>I don't recall seeing them) did they make one as long as an 80 (that's >>what I'm used to for 35mm but I could learn to live with it I know they >>made a medium format enlarger) and How they might compare to a Nikkor >>which is what I'm used to. > > >Well, Leitz made 9cm and 9.5cm lenses from 1927 until 1960, and the superb >V-Elmar 4.5/100 from 1960 until 1977, and the 5.6/100 Focotar-2 from 1977 >until 1983. > >Any of these lenses will make your Nikkor pale by comparison, to be polite. > I'll restrain my remarks, but even the older Leica lenses are on par with >the JSK and Rodenstock lenses and are quite a bit nicer than the Nikkor >enlarging lenses. Basically, I agree with Marc, but there is one exception I know of. Nikon made an Apo-Nikkor enlarging lens of 105mm (not medium format; only intended to cover 35mm) that outperformed pretty much everything else. The price, unfortunately, reflected this - about $1200 in the early 70's, when I bought my last new M4 for around $400Cdn. I've seen about 3 for sale over the years, generally staying around $1000 to $1500 used. * Henning J. Wulff /|\ Wulff Photography & Design /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com