This is a pretty slick lens design – the front and rear cells can be interchanged depending on the whether you’re doing enlargement or reduction. I’ve used this lens but it’s simply too big and heavy for my small and lightweight Nagaoka 4x5, especially given that its focal length requires a lot of extension. Nowadays I use my 180mm Fujinon-A (not for sale!) for close up work.
The glass in in excellent condition with no cleaning marks that I can see, but it does have a number of air bubbles – they look like little spots when you look through the lens and you can see them best in the third photo. A professional optical designer looked at this lens a couple of years ago and confirmed that they’re air bubbles, which were common in older lenses but surprised him a bit for a lens of this vintage. My test shots of a difficult subject with lots of specular highlights comparing this lens to a borrowed macro of identical focal length (and no bubbles) yielded identical prints. The lens caps are rough and non-original but do the job.
The speeds of the self-cocking Prontor Professional 3 shutter sound correct when compared with other known-good shutters I own. Like a Copal 3, this shutter has speeds from 1 sec to 1/125 sec plus B, but the Prontor doesn’t have T. Instead is has a dual shutter release system where one release (the only one I ever used) controls the normal operation and, as I recall, the other opens the shutter for focusing or T. There are detents at 1/3-stop intervals from f/5.6 to f/64. It uses the normal two-part retaining ring system found on other big shutters like Copal 3.
Asking $350 plus shipping in the US. International shipping and insurance will be expensive as the lens with caps and retaining rings weighs 830 grams (29.3 ounces, almost two pounds).
I also have a scan (not great, but legible) of Rodenstock’s PDF instruction sheet describing how to position the elements for enlargement and reduction. If you want a copy, send me an email.
Please pardon the dust in the first two photos, I blew off the lens of just before taking these pictures but it’s pretty dry here in winter and the dust knows when I don’t want it there and makes a special effort to attach itself quickly.
The glass in in excellent condition with no cleaning marks that I can see, but it does have a number of air bubbles – they look like little spots when you look through the lens and you can see them best in the third photo. A professional optical designer looked at this lens a couple of years ago and confirmed that they’re air bubbles, which were common in older lenses but surprised him a bit for a lens of this vintage. My test shots of a difficult subject with lots of specular highlights comparing this lens to a borrowed macro of identical focal length (and no bubbles) yielded identical prints. The lens caps are rough and non-original but do the job.
The speeds of the self-cocking Prontor Professional 3 shutter sound correct when compared with other known-good shutters I own. Like a Copal 3, this shutter has speeds from 1 sec to 1/125 sec plus B, but the Prontor doesn’t have T. Instead is has a dual shutter release system where one release (the only one I ever used) controls the normal operation and, as I recall, the other opens the shutter for focusing or T. There are detents at 1/3-stop intervals from f/5.6 to f/64. It uses the normal two-part retaining ring system found on other big shutters like Copal 3.
Asking $350 plus shipping in the US. International shipping and insurance will be expensive as the lens with caps and retaining rings weighs 830 grams (29.3 ounces, almost two pounds).
I also have a scan (not great, but legible) of Rodenstock’s PDF instruction sheet describing how to position the elements for enlargement and reduction. If you want a copy, send me an email.
Please pardon the dust in the first two photos, I blew off the lens of just before taking these pictures but it’s pretty dry here in winter and the dust knows when I don’t want it there and makes a special effort to attach itself quickly.
