Fujinon-Ex 90mm enlarging lens

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I’m glad to report that my new Fujinon-Ex 90mm f/5.6 lens quite adequately covers 6x9 and seems to be an excellent performer at normal apertures, at least comparable to my El-Nikkor 105mm f/5.6. I think it’s multi-coated, but it doesn’t state explicitly EBC.

The shorter focal length makes it possible to print larger with the maximum height of my Beseler 23C-II enlarger. It’s not an XL one, so I can’t print a whole sheet of 16x20 with a 105mm, but with the 90mm now I can use the whole sheet (thus cropping the 6x9 negative a little).

Anyway, this was just for the record. Anybody else uses Fujinon enlarging lenses here?

 

[craigclu]

I had one many years back and it was a great piece of glass. I came into a large group of high end (20+ !) enlarging lenses and kept an HM APO 90 that has been a good workhorse and high performer. The Fuji was donated to a school project, resurrecting darkroom teaching at a local school. The Fuji was easily the equal of the Rodagons and Componon S 80's when I did some comparison prints. The Fuji would cover 6X9 with almost no vignetting. I had some 6X8 gear back then and it was a good match for those duties.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Yes, it's quite a good lens. So far I've seen people posting about it as a macro lens for digital, but not much about its intended use.

Has Fuji ever made a crappy product? It seems that most of what they produced (camera, film, lenses, papers) is either stellar, or quite good enough that it flies under the radar of the nit-pickers.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I have a 50mm EX that I pull out every now and then. I get more delicate highlights with it. Subtle but it is there. Fuji lenses are underrated for sure.

 

[craigclu]

I have some Fuji enlarging lenses with mounts suggesting they were in a commercial printing machine but could be mounted to a standard lens board.... I can't recall where they're stored exactly but I'll try to find them and post a picture. I'd like to know they're getting played with a bit so someone can have them for the shipping. I'll try to get at it in the next day or so when I have access. I think someone took me up on a similar offer a few years ago so I'm unsure of what's left.

 

[craigclu]

It dawned on me that I had these at home, in a box close to a light tent I leave ready for quick pix. They seem clear and quite usable. They were mounted in some equipment that required the 3 point mounting but they appear to be removable, too. The actual measured focal length is hand written on the label shown. There's a 35, 49.6, 75 and 105mm. Likely adaptable to projects for someone (or simply mount to lens boards and use for enlarging). They're marked EBC but don't seem to have traditional retail type model names. Anyway, PM me and we can arrange getting them to you. They could use some dusting/cleaning but I'll let you do your own scratching!

 

[craigclu]

Lenses are spoken for....