Careful Reading - 63mm El Nikkor lenses

I recently got a 63mm f.2.8 EL Nikkor. To get magnification higher than 1:1, I got a 40.5 to 52 step-up ring and planned to use it with a BR ring. That's when I saw the original Nikon reversing ring. I got that too. I arrived today. The seller described it correctly. It's for the 63/3.5 or 50/2.8. It's not for the 63/2.8. I must have several 50/2.8 EL Nikkors here somewhere but the enlargers with lenses on them have CE Rokkor-Xs on them.

Thread title tweaked - to make it a bit more revelatory!
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Rather than look for the 50/2.8 N EL Nikkors I know I have somewhere, I went to the auction site. My usual MO is to place some low bids and see what happens. What happened? I got three of them. The N also has a 40.5 filter size like the 63/2.8. The 40.5 to 52 and 55 step-up rings I bought are all here. While I was at it I got another 40/3.5 Bogen Wide Angle enlarging lens. I have used these for enlarging and on a bellows, reversed. The Nikon reversing ring was obviously made for the older 50/2.8 and 63/3.5 lenses. I don't think I will want the 63/3.5. It has been used for a specific purpose and goes for a higher price. I might like to get the older 50/2.8. My first two enlarging lenses were a 3" f/6.3 Fedar Anastigmat and a 50mm f/3.5 Voss. Back then, the first version of the 50/2.8 EL Nikkor looked pretty good. In recent years when I have used enlarging lenses for printing, I have mostly used a 50/2.8 Minolta C.E. Rokkor-X.

DOH! I thought the Nikon reversing ring didn't fit the 63/2.8 EL Nikkor. Mine didn't come with one instructions. I didn't realize that the plain black side was the one with the 40.5mm thread. The side with the white lettering has the 39mm thread. With one of my Leica to T adapters, I can now put a reversed EL Nikkor on any of my bellows units. A side note - most of the info online states that the 50/4 EL Nikkors are "inferior." The older 50/4 was my first EL Nikkor. It replaced the 50/3.5 Voss which came my Bogen 22A Special. I got very nice prints with the 50/4, usually stopped down to f/8. I also used it successfully on a bellows as a taking lens. My second EL Nikkor was the 80/5.6, which I used to make prints from my Yashica Mat 124G negatives. I was a busy teenager.

Ha. in about 1976 I replaced the 50/3.5 Voss lens on my Bogen 22A special... with an EL-Nikkor 50/4. It cost (IIRC) $45 and was an amazing improvement in quality. After a long career in the industry and the labs, I still have it.
But when I enlarge 35mm these days (rarely) I use an 80/5.6 EL-Nikkor. Mostly for a more comfortable working height with my 4x5 enlarger. When I worked for Kodak, we had several of the 63/2.8 EL-Nikkors (superb lenses), simply because the would still focus on a 4x5 Super-Chromega with the three-lens turret. A 50mm was too short for that.

There is one more funny thing about the 50/4 EL Nikkor. The 22A Special would print up to 6X6. A friend gave me his 75 Voss lens because his enlarger came with both lenses. I would later use an 80/5.6 EL Nikkor for printing my 6X6 negatives. My only medium format camera was the Yashica Mat 124G. I would sometimes back off a little from my subject for portraits and enlarge the central portion of the negative. I would do this with the 50/4. The four element Yashinon lens was very sharp, especially in the center. An inexpensive roll of Verichrome Pan could give you a nearly grainless 8X10 enlarged from the center. I also discovered that when the enlarger head was at or near it's maximum height, I could print a cropped 8x10 with the 50/4. I would later get the 40/3.5 and 60/4 Bogen Wide Angle enlarging lenses so I could make larger prints with the 22A. By the time I tried to make 16X20 prints I tilted the enlarger head 45 degrees and taped the paper to the side of the freezer in my parents' basement. I had to unplug the freezer first so it wouldn't vibrate during the exposure.

FYI, for what it's worth, while the Minolta C.E. lenses (80mm, 50mm & 30mm) do not have front filter threads, they do have the same front diameter. I discovered long ago that most 55mm filters fit perfectly over the front of the lens. Just unscrew the glass retainer. Small dabs of silicone sealant will keep it in place -- and the Minolta lens make great close-up lenses. The 55mm filter thread allows you to use whatever filters you want -- and to reverse mount the lens at higher magnifications.

One word of caution. The C.E. lenses have two light pipes which need to be covered up to avoid stray light during the exposure. This is easy to do with small pieces of black tape inside the lens mount -- or, if you can find one, Minolta made an adapter that covers them up.