Enlarging lens question

I picked up a couple of enlarging lens today at a yard sale and was
wondering about the quality.
One is a Beslar 50mm f/3.5 and the other is a El-Omegar 50mm f/3.5
Are these lens worth using or should I dump them??

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com

Colyn wrote:
I picked up a couple of enlarging lens today at a yard sale and was
wondering about the quality.
One is a Beslar 50mm f/3.5 and the other is a El-Omegar 50mm f/3.5
Are these lens worth using or should I dump them??

The Belsar 50mm was the standard lense that came with Besler
35mm enlargers. It must be worth at least 35 cents these days??
;-)

The Rodenstock El-Omegar 50mm was the standard lense that came
with Omega enlargers for 35mm film. It must be worth at least
half again as much as the Belsar lense...

Generally the problem you'll have with these lenses is needing
to stop down to f/16 to get the edges of an 8x10 print in focus.
They don't have a flat enough field to use them anywhere near
wide open, which is very inconvenient to say the least.

What you want is an El Nikkor, a Componon-S or a Rodagon 50mm
lens for 35mm enlarging. I used to use El Nikkor enlarging
lenses, but the others also have good reputations.

Note that none of the good lenses are particularly expensive on
eBay these days (usually well under $50 used) so there really
isn't much reason for keeping the lesser quality lenses.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:00:06 -0800, (Floyd L.
Davidson) wrote:



Generally the problem you'll have with these lenses is needing
to stop down to f/16 to get the edges of an 8x10 print in focus.
They don't have a flat enough field to use them anywhere near
wide open, which is very inconvenient to say the least.

What you want is an El Nikkor, a Componon-S or a Rodagon 50mm
lens for 35mm enlarging. I used to use El Nikkor enlarging
lenses, but the others also have good reputations.

I use a Leica 50mm f/2 Summitar lens on my D2 but needed another lens
for an Omega C700 I found which will go to a friends son who is
learning to process and print his own photos.

I also have a Schneider lens on my Durst.

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com

"Colyn" wrote in message
...

I picked up a couple of enlarging lens today at a yard sale and was
wondering about the quality.
One is a Beslar 50mm f/3.5 and the other is a El-Omegar 50mm f/3.5
Are these lens worth using or should I dump them??

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com


My Omega B-22 came with an El-Omegar... The difference was amazing when I
replaced it with a Schneider (don't remember the exact "vintage"). In my
case, the sharpness improved a noticeable amount, but the Omegar was giving
me flare around highlights-- that dissappearred with the better lens.

IIRC, the Omeger was a smaller diameter mount and I had to do some fancy
cutting to mount the Schneider. Not impossible, just painstaking.


--
Ken Hart

Colyn wrote:
I picked up a couple of enlarging lens today at a yard sale and was
wondering about the quality.
One is a Beslar 50mm f/3.5 and the other is a El-Omegar 50mm f/3.5
Are these lens worth using or should I dump them??

Even 3rd rate enlarging lenses make pretty fair loupes for looking
at negatives and contact sheets, so they still may be useful to
someone even if not for their intended purpose.

Peter.
--

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006 22:42:21 -0500, "Ken Hart" wrote:


My Omega B-22 came with an El-Omegar... The difference was amazing when I
replaced it with a Schneider (don't remember the exact "vintage"). In my
case, the sharpness improved a noticeable amount, but the Omegar was giving
me flare around highlights-- that dissappearred with the better lens.

IIRC, the Omeger was a smaller diameter mount and I had to do some fancy
cutting to mount the Schneider. Not impossible, just painstaking.

My Schneider uses the same 39mm mount as the 2 lens I picked up today
so I had no problems mounting it on my Durst.

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com

Colyn wrote:
On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:00:06 -0800, (Floyd L.
Davidson) wrote:

Generally the problem you'll have with these lenses is needing
to stop down to f/16 to get the edges of an 8x10 print in focus.
They don't have a flat enough field to use them anywhere near
wide open, which is very inconvenient to say the least.

What you want is an El Nikkor, a Componon-S or a Rodagon 50mm
lens for 35mm enlarging. I used to use El Nikkor enlarging
lenses, but the others also have good reputations.

I use a Leica 50mm f/2 Summitar lens on my D2 but needed another lens

That is probably not optimum, but would certainly be much better
than the Belsar or El Omegar you mentioned.

Given the low price of a good enlarging lense, I'd get one.

for an Omega C700 I found which will go to a friends son who is
learning to process and print his own photos.

I also have a Schneider lens on my Durst.

The default lense supplied with a Durst enlarger is going to be
just about the same quality as the stock lenses for Omega and
Belser enlargers: the cheapest thing that appears to work, more
or less. Schneider of course has made some very good enlarging
lenses, but like all of the other lense manufacturers they made
some very low cost low performance lenses too.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

"Colyn" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Apr 2006 22:42:21 -0500, "Ken Hart"
wrote:


My Omega B-22 came with an El-Omegar... The difference was
amazing when I
replaced it with a Schneider (don't remember the exact
"vintage"). In my
case, the sharpness improved a noticeable amount, but the
Omegar was giving
me flare around highlights-- that dissappearred with the
better lens.

IIRC, the Omeger was a smaller diameter mount and I had to
do some fancy
cutting to mount the Schneider. Not impossible, just
painstaking.

My Schneider uses the same 39mm mount as the 2 lens I
picked up today
so I had no problems mounting it on my Durst.

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com

Schneider mounts vary with age. Earlier, chrome barrel
versions of the Componon are not Leica thread mount (39mm
mount), later ones are, at least up to 105mm. While the
later versions of this lens are better than the older ones
even the chrome barrel Componon is nothing to snear at.
These were the best enlarging lenses available at the time
they were made and are still very respectable. Similar
Rodenstock lenses are also very good to excellent but are
not very common on the used market.


--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA

"Colyn" wrote

needed another lens
for an Omega C700 I found which will go to a friends son who is
learning to process and print his own photos. [Found an
el-Omegaron and el-Beselar...]

I had a Nikon 50/3.5 Tessar formula lens which I replaced with
a 50/2.8 6-Element. The difference in prints was startling:
I couldn't tell the difference. Several hundred dollars down
the drain. I have very good acuity, I spot my prints with
a 30x stereo microscope, I have 'blads, Leicas and Sinars all with
SOTA lenses and my requirements for 'sharp' are higher than
any other anal retentive I know. Bottom line: IMO there is
more hype about lenses than there is about developers - that
doesn't mean there aren't some really awful lenses out there
but Apo-Costalotagons don't improve anyone's photographs.

Put the lenses on your enlarger and make a few test prints.
Only you can say what is acceptable you.

I wouldn't spend money on lenses for the kid when he may
not get hooked by darkroom work. As a first lens either of
these is great. Play 'Princess and the Pea': if the kid
complains about sharpness then you know he is on the hook.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics, Photonics, Informatics.
Remove blanks to reply: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
f-Stop enlarging timers: http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/

Blinking light in window: Fresh Timers Available, still
warm from the solder oven.

On Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:18:23 GMT, "Richard Knoppow"
wrote:


Schneider mounts vary with age. Earlier, chrome barrel
versions of the Componon are not Leica thread mount (39mm
mount), later ones are, at least up to 105mm. While the
later versions of this lens are better than the older ones
even the chrome barrel Componon is nothing to snear at.
These were the best enlarging lenses available at the time
they were made and are still very respectable. Similar
Rodenstock lenses are also very good to excellent but are
not very common on the used market.

I started off with a Schneider with a small mount (don't recall the
size) then went to the newer versions with 39mm. I currently have a
50mm and 75mm. Both are as sharp as any I have seen.

One lens I wish I had kept though was a 50mm Rokkor-X Minolta
enlarging lens.

--
Colyn Goodson

http://www.colyngoodson.com