On Thu, 08 May 2008 01:19:35 +1000, otzi wrote:

I am well aware that probably all modern enlarger lenses are pretty
good. The question arises, is the Componon HM series any advantage for
black & white printing
over the Componon -S
I am pretty thick about reading any graph curves but the Componon - S
curves seem flatter than the HM ones.

The Rodenstock charts seem to be a lot easier to understand, well they
are marketed as such anyway.
Would the lens folk of this community consider the APO-Rodagon - N
enlarging lenses to be on a par with the
HM series or the Componon - S series? And does it matter. What about
bigger magnifications, say 12X.

Would all the modern (new) enlarging lenses, apart from the amateur
series, perform equally to the eye.

Perhaps, this might help solve your quandary or, at least, be
enlightening.

Years ago, a friend of mine, a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate
in the photo processing and laboratory fields, owned a pro lab, a dream
of his. He had all manner of enlarging lenses of all makes and models--
Componons, Comparons, Rodagons, and some I'd never heard of. One day,
the Rodagon rep came in and gave him a couple Apo-Rodagons to try out.
They were a new design. To make a long story short: He ended up
replacing EVERY enlarger lens in the lab with Apo-Rodagons for both color
and b&w. He said that you could actually see the improved image quality
with the naked eye even in an 8x10 print, and they did prints up to 8x10
feet. But to truly benefit from the superiority and flatness of field of
the lenses, you had to use glass carriers to hold the film perfectly
flat, and all the stages of your enlarger had to be in perfect alignment
and parallel to the vacuum printing easel.

Stef