RE: [Leica] APO-COMPONON was Enlarging lens recommendation

["Lee, Jonathan" <Jonathan.Lee@hrcc.on.ca>]

The 150/4 and 90/4.5 APO-COMPONON are abolutely awesome lenses.  Both are
crisp like razor blades.  I  got them both used for $900 cdn (about $600 US)
at Alt in Toronto.  At two stops down, the 150/4 is to other 4X5 lenses
(135-150)what the 50 Summicron is to other normals. The only problem I had
with the 150 was mounting it into my D2 lens disk, which was too thick (or
the lens threads are too thin, depending on how you want to count it). 

I also like the way you can pre-set the aperture so that one turn opens it
up to full for focusing and another turn brings it right back to preset f
stop.

The other nice thing about both APO-COMPONONs is that they are whopping big
pieces of glass (the 150 especially!)which makes them truly wonderful
to...Oh, you know what I mean! :-)

I have a 50/2.8 El-Nikkor (in rotating plastic mount), which I've never
complained about but never seemed like an outsnding perfomer either.   

Jonathan Lee
- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Brick [mailto:jim@brick.org]
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 1999 9:10 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us; leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] Re: Enlarging lens recommendation


A few years ago I sold my V35 and Durst L1000, including lenses. I am in
the middle of a darkroom remodel. I started using it on a limited basis
recently. I am mounting my new wall mount enlarger chassis tomorrow and
hope to have my darkroom limping along in a week.

Schneider has a rebate on their lenses right now. So I bought three
APO-COMPONON HM Schneider lenses and got $150 rebate. Not a bad discount.
Sure better than a sharp stick in the eye. 150/4, 90/4.5, and 40/2.8 .

Sometime during the next few months, I'll report on how well they work for
me. Anybody out there have and use these lenses?

Jim


At 12:33 PM 10/16/99 -0700, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>Bob my 75mm El Nikor which I got new for less the a hundred bucks (20
years ago)
>did not test well against my newer much more expensive and with more
elements
>80mm El Nikor. At one point I got frustrated with the lower speed of the
80 and
>did a direct test as I still have my 75. I can see possibly your Rodagon
do not
>give you an image flavour which is your personal cup of tea and I am used
to the
>Nikor results still now. Just as the 80 blows the 75 out of the water (I
love
>the simplicity and solidness of the 75 though) the 105 really takes the 80
to
>task. So if you are fond of El Nikkor enlarging results. I would check
these
>options out. I think the 105 would be worthy of a strong comparison with
any
>high end German lens (especially if you didn't like them to start with :))
and
>my 80 holds its own but I am looking for something very strong.
>Mark Rabiner
>The 75 may be optimized for enlargements in the 5x area.
>