Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]McKeown's Law, of course, comes into play here, but there is a bit more to the story. The 5.6/100 Focotar-II was introduced in 1977 for use on the Focomat IIc and was never catalogued separately. It only lasted in production until 1983 and is a relatively rare lens. It is unfortunate that there are very few collectors of enlarging lenses, as this one would be a plum to own. However, demand is controlled by users of sheet-film and large-format enlargers. For reasons which escape me, as I have never used one though I have owned several over the years, this lens has come to have an almost mythic reputation among dark-room guys working in those larger sizes and is much sought by such folks. There have been discussions on several of the darkroom lists about this lens over the years. I suspect that an APO-Rodagon or the like would be of comparable quality, but the Focotar-II is much beloved, as is the 4/50 Focotar-2 for miniature format uses. The last Leitz enlarging lens, the 2.8/40 WA-Focotar never got an equal reputation, though it is a workhorse of a lens when that pukey yellow-green light is on. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!