Any experience with Caltar 210 HR lens?

Hello Team,

I am no engineer, but I do remember as a teenager, seeing my first Corvette Stingray in Winnipeg circa 1968.

This lens by appearance looks heavy and high performance, is it?
Super Sharp Super Plasmat?
Who made this lens for Calumet?
I have the opportunity to purchase for $200/clean condition, or would Nikon, Symmar or Rodenstock
Be a better 210 optic.? What say you?
Any advantage to APO lenses if shooting mos of the time m ml

95% black and white?

Thanks for your feedback on this!

Vincent/Harlequin

assuming its the ƒ5.6 version? (I've seen an ƒ6.8 version as well.) I don't know this lens specifically, but many of the Caltar lenses were rebranded Rodenstock lenses, so my guess is that this is a Sironar of some vintage or another. If so, then its a modern plasmat, so should have a high quality image. I find plasmats at that focal length or longer are a bit heavy for my taste, so I shoot a Xenar 210mm ƒ6.1 and a Kodak Ektar 203mm ƒ7.7 which are both much smaller and lighter.

In good shape, with a shutter, its probably a good deal.

Doing a blitz around the internet says the Caltar HR lenses were actually Topcon / Horseman lenses, and surprisingly good.

It's worth remembering that post-WWII, all LF lenses were made for a demanding professional market. So there are few, if any, that are optically inferior (assuming good physical condition). Not that they're all the same!
Calumet (RIP) put their name on (over time) lenses made by Ilex, Topcon, Schneider, and Rodenstock. They tend to sell for less than the name-brand equivalents, so are often a relative bargain.