Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm wondering if there are only three versions of the Focotar (excluding the Focotar-2)? I know of the 5cm, DOOCQ; then the 50mm, aslo DOOCQ, new barrel with the same formula; 50mm, #17.581 new formula. Anything else out there? Slobodan Dimitrov Studio G-8, Angels Gate Cultural Center http://sdimitrovphoto.com On Nov 11, 2005, at 10:21 PM, Henning Wulff wrote: > At 12:11 PM -0800 11/11/05, Richard wrote: >> It appears the choice is down to Rodagon APO 50/2.8 for $199 or a >> Focotar 50/4.5 (original) for ~$120-$150. I am leaning toward the >> Rodagon in the same vein that while 99% of my photos are crap, the >> remaining 1% deserves the very best lens I can afford... > > The 'original' Focotar came in two distinct flavours. I'm probably > not quite right in this, but don't feel like standing up and going > to the bookshelf for the real deal... The first was a Schneider > design, the second a Leitz design. I have the second one, the one > before the Focotar-2. When the Focotar-2 came out, I went down to > my local, borrowed two samples and brought them home to try against > my older one. Mostly, it was a wash. The only difference I could > see at any aperture and magnification was at f/4.5 and f/5.6, where > the older one had less vignetting due to larger front and rear > elements. It's essentially an f/2.8 lens that has been throttled > down. In fact, it had better evenness of illumination than a > Rodenstock Rodagon 50/2.8 and Nikkor 50/2.8 that I tried at the > same time, all at f/5.6. This was, I believe, in the 70's, so there > have been advances in the Rodenstocks and Nikkors since then. In > any case, I found the older Focotar to be the equal of the > Focotar-2's, and better than the other brands, so I still have the > Focotar 'late-original' from about 1958. The 40/2.8 (at least the > one I had) is not nearly as good, but does work reasonably well on > the V-35 system. Stay away from 'wideangle' enlarging lenses unless > you _really_ need them when using regular enlargers. > > All this does not, of course, mean all that much in relation to the > samples you might find. :-) > > As Frank wrote, a recent APO-Rodagon or Componon-HM is probably a > wise choice. > > -- > * Henning J. Wulff > /|\ Wulff Photography & Design > /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com > |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information