Enlarging lenses that are illuminated, have click stops and stop down lever?

[Jeff Bannow]

Understanding that the modern Nikon / Schneider / Rodenstock lenses have similar performance, I'm interested to know if any of them have these features:

illuminated dial
click stops
stop down lever

I know I have seen this on various lenses that I can't remember. Any lens have all of these?

Looking for 50mm, 80mm and 135mm likely to go into the lens turret of a D5 enlarger.

 

[Bob-D659]

The Componon-S has all three plus you can turn off the click stops.

 

[tkamiya]

EL-Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 has the illuminated dial and click stops but not stop down lever.
EL-Nikkor 80mm f/5.6 is the same way
EL-Nikkor 105mm f/5.6 is the same way

EL-Nikkor 50mm f/4 has click stops but nothing else

 

[clayne]

All the Rodenstocks and Schneiders have these.

However, they implement them in different ways. The Rodenstocks like to use a pre-set aperture and you just twist to go wide-open and twist back to go to your pre-set. I have a Schneider 80/4 Comp-S that uses a separate lever for the same functionality. It's still a twist but it always stops at what the main ring is set to. I actually prefer this method over the Rodenstocks.

Optically they're all great.

 

[Ian Grant]

Have to agree the modern Schneider stop down mechanism is the nicest, and they ahve all the attributes you're looking for.

BTW a 240mm is very much more practical than a 300mm on the 5108 with 10x8 negatives, both Schneider & Rodenstock's 240mm lenses are designed for 10x8 so easily cover the format, the 210's just vignette. I have a 300mm Componon S but the extension needed to make prints a touch larger than 10x8 makes height adjustment & focusing more finicky, the 300mm is also an enormous lens.

Ian

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Thanks all. Looks like the Schneider Componon-S is what I'm looking for. I have a Comp-S 50mm that doesn't have the stop down feature though - is this something that they added later, or is the 50mm missing this?

 

[Jeff Bannow]

BTW a 240mm is very much more practical than a 300mm on the 5108 with 10x8 negatives, both Schneider & Rodenstock's 240mm lenses are designed for 10x8 so easily cover the format, the 210's just vignette.

Thanks Ian! It looks like the 240mm still command some money - $200-250 it looks like. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get one. Are they all f5.6, or is there anything faster?

 

[Anon Ymous]

It was probably added later, as my 50mm Componon-S has the stop down lever.

 

[Ian Grant]

Thanks Ian! It looks like the 240mm still command some money - $200-250 it looks like. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get one. Are they all f5.6, or is there anything faster?

All f5.6, but the 5108 is a very bright enlarger with 1K of bulbs (4x 250W 120V) and so you won't have a problem, you can stop down raesonably as well.

Ian

 

[Jeff Bannow]

All f5.6, but the 5108 is a very bright enlarger with 1K of bulbs (4x 250W 120V) and so you won't have a problem, you can stop down raesonably as well.

Ian

That's good to know. Thanks!

 

[jeroldharter]

You should verify which lens fits on your turret. I know the Beseler turret is limited and will not except many lenses >135mm and certainly not a 240.

I don't like turrets because they make alignment difficult.

The lever mechanism on the modern Componon S lenses is very nice, especially when using a color analyzer or enlarging exposure meter. You can adjust the aperture steplessly to zero out the meter while keeping a constant exposure time.

 

[Jeff Bannow]

You should verify which lens fits on your turret. I know the Beseler turret is limited and will not except many lenses >135mm and certainly not a 240.

I don't like turrets because they make alignment difficult.

The lever mechanism on the modern Componon S lenses is very nice, especially when using a color analyzer or enlarging exposure meter. You can adjust the aperture steplessly to zero out the meter while keeping a constant exposure time.

Thanks. The 240mm would be going onto a De Vere 8x10, the other lenses onto a Omega D5.

 

[fschifano]

Thanks all. Looks like the Schneider Componon-S is what I'm looking for. I have a Comp-S 50mm that doesn't have the stop down feature though - is this something that they added later, or is the 50mm missing this?

I just got a 50 mm. Componon-S like yours without the stop down lever. It dates, I think, from the 70's. My other Componon-S is an 80 mm optic and does have the stop down lever. I'll have to check the serial numbers against Schneider's charts for date of manufacture. The chart is here.

 

[Marco B]

I'm interested to know if any of them have these features:

illuminated dial
click stops
stop down lever

The Componon-S has all three plus you can turn off the click stops.

All the Rodenstocks and Schneiders have these.

Thanks all. Looks like the Schneider Componon-S is what I'm looking for. I have a Comp-S 50mm that doesn't have the stop down feature though - is this something that they added later, or is the 50mm missing this?

Be aware that contrary to what Bob and Clayne are suggesting, not all Rodenstock and Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S lenses have all the features you listed. My Rodenstock Rodagon 105/F5.6 misses a stop down lever. My Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 150/F5.6 has no illuminated dial and stop down lever, that I sometimes miss.

My Componon-S 50/F2.8 does have all the features though... maybe the newest modern lenses have it all by default.

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Be aware that contrary to what Bob and Clayne are suggesting, not all Rodenstock and Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S lenses have all the features you listed. My Rodenstock Rodagon 105/F5.6 misses a stop down lever. My Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 150/F5.6 has no illuminated dial and stop down lever, that I sometimes miss.

My Componon-S 50/F2.8 does have all the features though...

It seems safe to assume that if I see the stop down lever it will have click stops and illuminated dials though?

 

[Lee L]

I believe the stop-down lever was added to Componon-S production in around 1982-83, at the same time as the back-lit aperture. I'm sure there was some lag in getting it to most consumers, given that enlarging lens stocks don't turn over very rapidly in many places. I was looking for the 100 f:5.6 with the new barrel in Germany in 1982-83, as it had been announced, but couldn't find it in stock in Dusseldorf, Koln, or Bonn shops, even the larger pro shops.

Lee

 

[ruilourosa]

i found the nikkor EL 2.8 a good option even without levers, and if the price - quality is a a must, nikkor is the best

 

[fschifano]

I just checked the dates of manufacture for the two Componon-S lenses I own. The 50 mm., f/2.8 lens has no back lit aperture scale, no stop down lever, and was manufactured in October 1979. It does have a slider in the barrel that switches the aperture mechanism from click stops to continuously variable, but the detents are very slight and hard to feel. Overall, I don't really like this lens too much. Optically it is excellent, as good as you can get for a lens of this caliber; but the lack of both the back lit aperture scale and positive detents make the lens inconvenient to use. I also have a 50 mm., f/2.8 El-Nikkor which, while lacking a back lit aperture scale, has very positive detents and is easy to stop down to the required setting simply by counting clicks. Optically, it is as good as the Schneider, and I can't see any difference in the prints made with either lens. The 80 mm., f/5.6 has both the back lit aperture scale and the stop down lever, and was manufactured in October 1979. This lens is hands down one of my favorites. It is optically excellent, as one should expect from Schneider, and very easy and convenient to use.

One might assume that the change to the operating mechanism was implemented sometime between 10/78 and 10/79, but that's not a certainty. One could safely assume that the change was planned prior to those dates, and that Schneider was simply using up the existing inventory of lens barrels and iris mechanisms at that point before migrating over to the newer style.

 

[Lee L]

I just checked the dates of manufacture for the two Componon-S lenses I own.
<snip>
One might assume that the change to the operating mechanism was implemented sometime between 10/78 and 10/79, but that's not a certainty. One could safely assume that the change was planned prior to those dates, and that Schneider was simply using up the existing inventory of lens barrels and iris mechanisms at that point before migrating over to the newer style.

Thanks Frank. Found the Schneider dating page.

In 1982 I purchased Componon-S 50mm f:2.8 and 135 f:5.6 lenses from a pro shop in Minneapolis that moved a good bit of darkroom equipment. Both were the older style without stop down lever or backlit apertures. The 50 f:2.8 was manufactured in Jan '81 and the 135 f:5.6 in Sept. '77. I have a 40 f:4.5 lens with the new style barrel that was manufactured in Nov. '88.

Looks like there was a pretty long transition period across the whole line, but late '70's into the early to mid 80's looks like the time frame.

Lee

 

[clayne]

Remember, basically any modern Schneider or Rodenstock will have preset aperture. The Rodenstock simply uses a pull down aperture ring to set it whereas the Schneider has a separate lever that goes from wide open to current aperture. The effective goal is the same.

I prefer the red backlit stops of the Schneider over the Rodenstock but I'd use either one. My 50mm Apo-N Rodenstock is optically better than my 80mm Schenider, but I tend to use the latter because it's more convenient to print 35mm with at smaller sizes.

 

[ic-racer]

I also have some early and later Componon-s lenses.

I'm not that big of a fan of the illuminated aperture and lever; they always seems to work against me.

The illuminated aperture shows me that I forgot to stop down only as I expose and ruin the paper.
The aperture lever lets me accidentally expose a piece of paper wide open while the illuminated aperture offers conflicting information that the lens is stopped down, again to ruin a piece of paper.

 

[clayne]

I also have some early and later Componon-s lenses.

I'm not that big of a fan of the illuminated aperture and lever; they always seems to work against me.

The illuminated aperture shows me that I forgot to stop down only as I expose and ruin the paper.
The aperture lever lets me accidentally expose a piece of paper wide open while the illuminated aperture offers conflicting information that the lens is stopped down, again to ruin a piece of paper.

You can't use your hands to feel if it's to the left of where it should be wide-open?

Change your method, after aligning in the easel - stop down and leave it that way.

 

[ic-racer]

Schneider listed six different iris mounts for the enlarging lenses that were offered at the same time. The BLV-L barrel had the illuminated aperture, pre-set aperture and click stop override. BL-0 was metal and had illuminated aperture and half-stops and click stop override with no lever. B-00 was metal with no illuminated aperture. B-V was metal with no click stops, etc...

http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/pdf/foto/vergroesserung_e.pdf

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Invariably when on the last sheet of 16x20 paper!

 

[Lee L]

I'm not that big of a fan of the illuminated aperture and lever; they always seems to work against me.

Maybe they're annoying you intentionally, hoping that you'll send them to live with Jeff and Eva.

The aperture detent override feature is designed for, and very useful for matching/repeating tones with an enlarging meter or color analyzer. Both my 1981 50mm and 1977 135mm have that feature in the metal barrel without illuminated aperture scales. That combination of features isn't in the current catalog that ic-racer posted.

Lee