SK Componon S 100 or Rodagon 105

[fatihayoglu]

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Hi all,

 

so I’m building my enlarger to print my photos up to 6x9 and it’s time to acquire the enlarger lens.

 

I have opportunity to get a brand new Rodagon or for £100 less I can get a Componon S.

which one is a better lens? I’ll enlarge probably up to 5x but more importantly I will use the lens to enlarge 35mm as well and probably up to 15x

( to print 8x10 requires 7x enlarging as far as I understand, so maximum I’d go for would be 16x20)

[Pyrogallol]

Schneider Componon or Componon-S, not Comparon or Componar.

Also very good are the Nikon EL-Nikkor lenses. I think I had a Rodagon but that was not as good as the Schneider or Nikon.

i use a Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 (which I bought in the early 1980’s) for 35mm and a 75mm for 6x6. I also have a 135mm EL-Nikkor for 5x4 and a 180mm Componon-S for 5x7. For 35mm negs you would want a 50mm lens, for 6x6 or 6x9 a 75/80mm or 100mm if available. If you can only have one lens then it would need to be a 75/80mm lens which would cover 6x9 and still be usable for 35mm negs though the projected image will be smaller than with a 50mm lens.

there are lots of good enlarger lens on e bay for less than £$ 100.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2545226.m570.l1313&_nkw=componon+s+100mm&_sacat=0

go for the widest aperture ie f2.8 on a 50mm as it will give a brighter image for focussing.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Pyrogallol

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[fatihayoglu]

1 hour ago, Pyrogallol said:

Schneider Componon or Componon-S, not Comparon or Componar.

Also very good are the Nikon EL-Nikkor lenses. I think I had a Rodagon but that was not as good as the Schneider or Nikon.

i use a Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 (which I bought in the early 1980’s) for 35mm and a 75mm for 6x6. I also have a 135mm EL-Nikkor for 5x4 and a 180mm Componon-S for 5x7. For 35mm negs you would want a 50mm lens, for 6x6 or 6x9 a 75/80mm or 100mm if available. If you can only have one lens then it would need to be a 75/80mm lens which would cover 6x9 and still be usable for 35mm negs though the projected image will be smaller than with a 50mm lens.

there are lots of good enlarger lens on e bay for less than £$ 100.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2545226.m570.l1313&_nkw=componon+s+100mm&_sacat=0

go for the widest aperture ie f2.8 on a 50mm as it will give a brighter image for focussing.

Thanks a lot. I have bought a Ragadon Apo 50, on the way from Germany but later realized my enlarger kit won't allow me to use it as I'll use $x5 camera with enlarger kit (Intrepid), so I have to use 100/105mm lens for both 35mm and 6x9 films

[fotomas]

It's better to have both lenses, the 50 and the 100 mm if you like to do also 35 mm negs with it. Of course you can use the 100 mm also for 35 mm, but then, depending on the greatest possible hight of your enlarger,  you only can do rather small prints from 35 mm. 

Guess even with a 4x5 inches enlarger, that can go over 110 cm high you will receive no more then about 8 x 10 inches print size from 35 mm negs with a 100 mm lens. With smaller ones even less.
If you like to print the greatest possible size that the enlarger is capable with all negs, then you need for each negative format an enlarger lens with the according focal length for this format (35 mm: 50 mm lens, 6x9 cm: 100 mm lens, 4x5": 150 mm lens).

[Pyrogallol]

1 hour ago, fatihayoglu said:

Thanks a lot. I have bought a Ragadon Apo 50, on the way from Germany but later realized my enlarger kit won't allow me to use it as I'll use $x5 camera with enlarger kit (Intrepid), so I have to use 100/105mm lens for both 35mm and 6x9 films

What will stop you using the Rodagon  apo 50 ? I believe it has the standard Leica 39mm thread mount.

[fatihayoglu]

1 hour ago, Pyrogallol said:

What will stop you using the Rodagon  apo 50 ? I believe it has the standard Leica 39mm thread mount.

Because I am going to use 4x5 camera, the lens does not get close enough to focus apparently

[Richardgb]

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On 10/4/2020 at 6:13 PM, Pyrogallol said:

What will stop you using the Rodagon  apo 50 ? I believe it has the standard Leica 39mm thread mount.

The Apo Rodagon performance was reckoned to be 1-stop better than the normal Rodagon, equivalent to being able to use it 1-stop wider, e.g. f/8 instead of f/11. The latter are the usual working apertures of the respective lenses. If an Apo Rodagon is stopped down to f/11, there will be a (small) improvement in perfomance. However, for both lenses, apertures small than f/11 are not recommended as performance starts to tail off.

Although you have not enquired, I'll add that, although it is correct to say a 105mm lens can be used to enlarge a 35mm size negative, the enlarger lenses are optimised for the format they normally cover (e.g. 50mm lens for 24x36mm, 6x9cm for the 105mm) and the most common degree of enlargement, e.g. around 10x in the case of the 50mm (i.e. to allow an 8x12in print or thereabouts - sorry to mix the units of measurement); the 105mm would be 4x or 5x for the same print size.

It is, of course, possible to make larger prints, but there were enlarging lenses optimised made for such work (Rodenstock designated theirs 'Rodagon-G', e.g. the 50mm Rodagon-G was for enlargements of about 20x). However, AFAIK these never sold in large quantities which is hardly surprising considering their more specialist application.