In Colour printing, does the enlarger lens effect the tonality of the print?

[kobaltus]

You'd a bit of noticeable contrast increase with an Apo Rodagon N 105; but those are expensive.

Maybe? The latest ( after 11……..) non apo Rodagons 105 mm are multicoated with very high contrast . For BW work even too much for my taste. Older Rodagon 105 and Componon 100mm are giving me more pleasant and natural look. For color prints even xxx Apo can not compete with oversaturated colors delivered by everyday xxx phone.

e.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Can't compete? .... with what, Phone-E colors applied to a capture surface the size of a gnat's eyeball? Who cares about that kind of nonsense? I'm talking about efficiently reproducing hue differentiations in actual film capture, which aren't all of the same species, or all with the same kind or size of print of mind. Having a choice of enlarging lenses might be a luxury, but it's also a nice way to fine-tune hue subtleties in the print.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Can't compete? .... with what, Phone-E colors applied to a capture surface the size of a gnat's eyeball? Who cares about that kind of nonsense? I'm talking about efficiently reproducing hue differentiations in actual film capture, which aren't all of the same species, or all with the same kind or size of print of mind. Having a choice of enlarging lenses might be a luxury, but it's also a nice way to fine-tune hue subtleties in the print.

Perhaps it would be useful to, if possible, categorize the color transmission qualities of the various lenses to provide people with a palette so they can make informed choices.

 

[DREW WILEY]

With modern enlarging lenses there are almost no significant differences in color rendition or palette per se between brands. There are real differences in apochromatic correction, sharpness, MTF, and relative contrastiness which might or might no matter to a color darkroom practitioner. I don't want to go into a lot of detail here, with the inevitable pushback from untested opinions. I'll just state that the proof is in the pudding.
The graphics industry itself depended on such distinctions for decades to stay in business. High-end applications needed high-end apo lenses; mere T-shirt print screening shots could get away with bargain stat camera lenses of the very same variety once sold as student-grade enlarging lenses.

 

[kobaltus]

With modern enlarging lenses there are almost no significant differences in color rendition or palette per se between brands. There are real differences in apochromatic correction, sharpness, MTF, and relative contrastiness which might or might no matter to a color darkroom practitioner. I don't want to go into a lot of detail here, with the inevitable pushback from untested opinions. I'll just state that the proof is in the pudding.
The graphics industry itself depended on such distinctions for decades to stay in business. High-end applications needed high-end apo lenses; mere T-shirt print screening shots could get away with bargain stat camera lenses of the very same variety once sold as student-grade enlarging lenses.

Please, tell me something about these high-end applications related with film, graphic industry and apo lenses today.
I am a little bit rusty. My last job, related with graphic industry , done with film, have been done about. 15 years ago. Even than, the publisher wanted my work burned on DVD . As I remember, Kodak Ektachrome slides and Imacon scanner gave me pretty good color accuracy and sharpness.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Well, the nice thing for us is that most of those applications went over to scanners (industrial grade drum scanners), making high-end process lenses quite affordable on the used market today. I cannibalized my own set of Apo Nikkors (not to be confused with El Nikkors) from a Japanese process camera 22 feet long, with a bellows big enough to walk through if it had been strong enough. I also kept the big precision vacuum easel. This copy camera was made for 1:1 copy from big art originals, and cost around $200,000 US when it was new back in the 70's. Processes lenses of that variety have to be corrected to a far higher standard than ordinary enlarging lenses; but they don't come in short focal lengths. I happen to do much of my color printing from 8x10 originals, either chromes or color negs, and sometimes print quite large, and expect optimal results. "Good enough" isn't good enough in that kind of work.