80mm Nikkor F5.6N Vs. the latest 80mm Schneider F4.0 CompononS @ high magnifications
 

On 11/19/2012 9:05 AM, wrote:

Hi:

I've been told, when printing 8X10's with 6x7, one doesen't really see much of a difference between these lenses. But, what about at higher magnifications when enlarging to 20X24? Does the Nikkor perform as well, or better? Are the differences still negligible.

Enlarging lenses are selling very low on Ebay and now I can afford to get a couple more.

Bob McCarthy

Richard said it true! With really big enlargements a 6 element lens
(such as Componon, Rodagon, most but not all El-Nikkors,)is better than
a 4 element (such as Componar, Rogonar-S) or (shudder) 3 element.

The 4 element lenses are actually a pretty good lens, but need to be
stopped down 2 stops to really shine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkor#EL-Nikkor


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodenstock_GmbH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Kreuznach

Both the EL-Nikkor f/5.6 and the Componon-S are excellent enlarging lenses and you will not see any difference between them. The advantage of the Schneider lens, is the brighter image when the lens it opened to the maximum aperture setting.