Are all Caltar II lenses rebadged Rodenstocks?

Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system) I'm
looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these caltars
going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like the Schneider
Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses combined to $700 or less.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

In article ,
Matt Clara wrote:
Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system) I'm
looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these caltars
going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like the Schneider
Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses combined to $700 or less.

One of the wide-angles (I always forget which one) is a Schneider. Also,
the 210mm may be a Rodenstock Geronar, which is a triplet design; while
very good for a triplet (the result of modern computerized lens design) it
falls short of other modern designs both in resolution and in coverage.

Which is not to say it's a bad lens! On the contrary, thousands of
students have worked with the 210mm Geronar as their _only_ large-format
lens and obtained excellent results. But you should be aware that there
is more than one kind of 210mm Rodenstock lens out there and know what
you're buying.

--
Thor Lancelot Simon
But as he knew no bad language, he had called him all the names of common
objects that he could think of, and had screamed: "You lamp! You towel! You
plate!" and so on. --Sigmund Freud

Caltar II-S are Schneider
Caltar II-N are Rodenstock.

You should easily be able to undercut your $700 limit with the two
lenses. If you have trouble, do a bit more research and hopefully
you'll see what I mean.

When buying used gear, there's no need to choose Schneider Super
Angulons over Fuji or Nikon SW or Rodenstock Grandagon. All should give
you brilliant results.

Regards - Chris

Matt Clara wrote:
Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system) I'm
looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these caltars
going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like the Schneider
Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses combined to $700 or less.

My understanding is that Caltar lenses have over the years been made by
Schneider and Rodenstock. I have a couple and although I don't use them
anymore they were very sharp and had good contrast.


Matt Clara wrote:
: Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system) I'm
: looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these caltars
: going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like the Schneider
: Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses combined to $700 or less.

: --
: Regards,
: Matt Clara
: www.mattclara.com



--




Keep working millions on welfare depend on you
-------------------

"Matt Clara" apparently said:

Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system) I'm
looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these caltars
going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like the Schneider
Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses combined to $700 or less.

I have a Caltar-W II, 90mm f/8. This is a Schneider SA,
the only differences being the name, and the lack of a
serial number (Schneider did not number the lenses
that they made for Calumet, for whatever reason.)
I guess mine was toward the end of the series that
Scneider made for Calumet, because it's even
multicoated. Oh, and one more thing: it was half
the price of an identical lens with the Schneider name
on it.

"Frank Pittel" wrote in message
...
My understanding is that Caltar lenses have over the years been made by
Schneider and Rodenstock. I have a couple and although I don't use them
anymore they were very sharp and had good contrast.


Yeah? "They" happen to be a 90 and a 210... ;-)

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

"Matt Clara" wrote in
news
Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system)
I'm looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these
caltars going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like
the Schneider Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses
combined to $700 or less.


Matt -

Caltar lenses are (and were) all manufactured by one of the major
manufacturers. Depending on the vintage, Schneider and Rodenstock were
the primary suppliers, but there were a few that were made by a Japanese
company in the early days. Current vintage lenses are all Rodenstock,
and in fact my Caltar N 210mm came in a Rodenstock box. All were good -
and some were excellent.

If you want more detail, Kerry Thallmann wrote a complete history of
Caltar lenses for View Camera last year

"Matt Clara" wrote in
news
Or just certain ones... After the above discussion (2 lens system)
I'm looking at 90mm and 210mm lenses on ebay and seeing a few of these
caltars going for less than their Rodenstock counterparts. I'd like
the Schneider Super Angulons, but I'd rather keep the two lenses
combined to $700 or less.


Matt -

Caltar lenses are (and were) all manufactured by one of the major
manufacturers. Depending on the vintage, Schneider and Rodenstock were
the primary suppliers, but there were a few that were made by a Japanese
company in the early days. Current vintage lenses are all Rodenstock,
and in fact my Caltar N 210mm came in a Rodenstock box. All were good -
and some were excellent.

If you want more detail, Kerry Thallmann wrote a complete history of
Caltar lenses for View Camera last year

In article , Stacey wrote:
Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:

One of the wide-angles (I always forget which one) is a Schneider. Also,
the 210mm may be a Rodenstock Geronar, which is a triplet design; while
very good for a triplet (the result of modern computerized lens design) it
falls short of other modern designs both in resolution and in coverage.

Which is not to say it's a bad lens! On the contrary, thousands of
students have worked with the 210mm Geronar as their _only_ large-format
lens and obtained excellent results.

Have you ever used one of these? Unless someone is making HUGE enlargements

I sure have. In fact, the first large-format camera I ever used had a
Geronar on it.

For a 210mm lens, it really doesn't have a lot of coverage. And I have
to disagree with your comparison to the Commercial Ektar; the Geronar
might be as sharp in the center but it sure seemed less sharp at the
edges to me.

Still, they're good lenses. Not as good as, say, a Nikkor-M (nor would
one expect them to be), which is pretty much the ultimate modern small
200mm lens, but still, very good. Even being in the same ballpark as
a Commercial Ektar makes them very good, as far as I'm concerned.

They are not, however, as sharp -- nor do they cover as well -- as other
modern 210mm lenses of more sophisticated design. It would be interesting
to compare the Geronar to a 210mm "process" plasmat like a G-Claron or
Computar or Kowa and see which one's a better deal; there are lots of
those floating around used and if you're shopping for a Geronar price
is probably a major concern.

--
Thor Lancelot Simon
But as he knew no bad language, he had called him all the names of common
objects that he could think of, and had screamed: "You lamp! You towel! You
plate!" and so on. --Sigmund Freud

In article , Stacey wrote:
Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:

One of the wide-angles (I always forget which one) is a Schneider. Also,
the 210mm may be a Rodenstock Geronar, which is a triplet design; while
very good for a triplet (the result of modern computerized lens design) it
falls short of other modern designs both in resolution and in coverage.

Which is not to say it's a bad lens! On the contrary, thousands of
students have worked with the 210mm Geronar as their _only_ large-format
lens and obtained excellent results.

Have you ever used one of these? Unless someone is making HUGE enlargements

I sure have. In fact, the first large-format camera I ever used had a
Geronar on it.

For a 210mm lens, it really doesn't have a lot of coverage. And I have
to disagree with your comparison to the Commercial Ektar; the Geronar
might be as sharp in the center but it sure seemed less sharp at the
edges to me.

Still, they're good lenses. Not as good as, say, a Nikkor-M (nor would
one expect them to be), which is pretty much the ultimate modern small
200mm lens, but still, very good. Even being in the same ballpark as
a Commercial Ektar makes them very good, as far as I'm concerned.

They are not, however, as sharp -- nor do they cover as well -- as other
modern 210mm lenses of more sophisticated design. It would be interesting
to compare the Geronar to a 210mm "process" plasmat like a G-Claron or
Computar or Kowa and see which one's a better deal; there are lots of
those floating around used and if you're shopping for a Geronar price
is probably a major concern.

--
Thor Lancelot Simon
But as he knew no bad language, he had called him all the names of common
objects that he could think of, and had screamed: "You lamp! You towel! You
plate!" and so on. --Sigmund Freud