Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/05/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 6:56 AM -0700 5/8/07, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:
>As I looked over the site I noticed the APO El-Nikkor on one of the lists.
>Two 105mm have recently come up for auction, demanding and getting
>very high bids.
>How good is this lens?
>
>Slobodan Dimitrov
>
The APO El-Nikkor (I'm only familiar - slightly- with the 105mm) is
as good as it gets in its designed magnification range. Outstanding,
but a fairly small image circle and when used as a macro range, it
shouldn't be taken much outside its magnification range. I don't know
offhand what this is, but I remember that quality did fall off
noticeably when I tried making too big a print. It still wasn't bad,
it just wasn't outstanding anymore.
The Photars are excellent, and if you want to get into the 1:2 to
1:40 or so range there isn't much that is generally as good, let
alone better. Actually, a number of companies made sets of macro
lenses, with the later ones almost always being better. The Photars
are some of the later ones. I have the 25, 50/2.8, 80 and 120
Photars, plus a Zeiss (from a fellow LUGger) and an Olympus. The
Zeiss is an S-Orthoplanar and should be better than the Photars as it
sure cost more initially, and the Olympus is a very late design, but
in practice all the lenses perform at about the same level. I use
them on a late Aristophot with a micro Viso III, long bellows and
Compur shutter. This allows low-shake photography.
--
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com