Modern 25mm equivalent to componon-s or rodagon 39mm lens?

kingbuzzie · Sep 13, 2018

I have a durst 606, and luckily I have been able to locate 39mm lens boards for my 50mm and 80mm lenses. But now, I have two extra 25mm lens boards. What are the good 25mm enlarger lenses I could pick up for cheap? Also, what tier would the more modern black 25mm componon be?

ic-racer · Sep 13, 2018

I have the Componon 80mm in a 25mm mount. Great lens; I use it to enlarge 35mm with my Durst.

awty · Sep 13, 2018

ic-racer said:
I have the Componon 80mm in a 25mm mount. Great lens; I use it to enlarge 35mm with my Durst. View attachment 207966

Hi.
Interesting lens holder, does it have a name?
Does it allow for off center enlarging? that would be handy when cropping.

Lachlan Young · Sep 13, 2018

awty said:
Hi.
Interesting lens holder, does it have a name?
Does it allow for off center enlarging? that would be handy when cropping.

Durst TRIPLA, fits in place of the massive UNIPLA on the 138, 184 etc. Lets you switch formats very fast or to a longer lens if you need greater working height. No to your question about off centre. Large format enlarger & glass carrier are the answers to your question instead.

chip j · Sep 13, 2018

The Componon is a 6-element just like the Componon S. I have a few Componons in 25mm mount--wouldn't part w/them.

Ian Grant · Sep 14, 2018

I gave away a few 105mm Durst Componon lenses here a few years ago, they'd come from roll heda printer turrets, they like the older 50 & 80mm Componons were 25mm thread. I've got a few Componon lenses and a few Componon S 50mm -300mmall are excellent performers as are the Rodagons I own.

The roll head turrets came with cone extenders all 39mm thread as well as threaded tubes 39mm outside thread, 25mm inside. these were for adjusting the degree of enlargement and focussing, also the lenses had a grub screw to lock the aperture. The lab I got the lenses from skipped (sent to landfill) most of the equipment, roll head printers followed by the LF enlargers.

Ian

awty · Sep 14, 2018

Lachlan Young said:
Durst TRIPLA, fits in place of the massive UNIPLA on the 138, 184 etc. Lets you switch formats very fast or to a longer lens if you need greater working height. No to your question about off centre. Large format enlarger & glass carrier are the answers to your question instead.

Thanks, was hoping for an easy solution . Have a durst 1000 but no glass carriers only masks.

awty · Sep 14, 2018

Lachlan Young said:
Durst TRIPLA, fits in place of the massive UNIPLA on the 138, 184 etc. Lets you switch formats very fast or to a longer lens if you need greater working height. No to your question about off centre. Large format enlarger & glass carrier are the answers to your question instead.

Thanks, was hoping for an easy solution . Have a durst 1000 but no glass carriers only masks.

Lachlan Young · Sep 14, 2018

awty said:
Thanks, was hoping for an easy solution . Have a durst 1000 but no glass carriers only masks.

I'd try Kienzle in Germany, I believe they can supply new glass inserts etc for the 1000.

ic-racer · Sep 14, 2018

awty said:
Hi.
Interesting lens holder, does it have a name?
Does it allow for off center enlarging? that would be handy when cropping.

When using the tilt function for perspective control, the assembly can be rotated slightly (per the indicator marks) to re-center the lens. My L1840, actually has a shift lensboard to do this, but not all the Durst enlargers had the shift function to re-center the lens. (I have the 'deluxe' version, so I can also shift the 8x10 negative 12 cm each.)

Ian Grant · Sep 15, 2018

ic-racer said:
When using the tilt function for perspective control, the assembly can be rotated slightly (per the indicator marks) to re-center the lens. My L1840, actually has a shift lensboard to do this, but not all the Durst enlargers had the shift function to re-center the lens. (I have the 'deluxe' version, so I can also shift the 8x10 negative 12 cm each.)

My smaller Durst enlargers have the same movements (swing) on the head and lens stage as well as the shift for re-centring the lens. It's very useful at times. My De Vere 5108 has teh swings but no shift.

These enlarger movements are more useful with 35mm and 120 negatives where you can't control perspective with camera movements, but still nice to have with LF as well. Until writing this I hadn't realised that I actually learnt how movements worked with my Durst M601, a couple of years before first using an LF camera.

Ian

ic-racer · Sep 15, 2018

Ian Grant said:
My smaller Durst enlargers have the same movements (swing) on the head and lens stage as well as the shift for re-centring the lens. It's very useful at times. My De Vere 5108 has teh swings but no shift.

These enlarger movements are more useful with 35mm and 120 negatives where you can't control perspective with camera movements, but still nice to have with LF as well. Until writing this I hadn't realised that I actually learnt how movements worked with my Durst M601, a couple of years before first using an LF camera.

Ian

Actually, with 8x10 it may be just as frequent to have lenses that won't allow movements!
Symmar-S 210mm (image circle 294mm) on 8x10 with a 'fake' extreme rise. This is the print from enlarger settings pictured above. As an interesting fact, any light falloff at the top of the image during negative exposure is counteracted by light falloff during printing (being farther from the enlarger lens), so the exposure of the sky becomes surprisingly even.

M Carter · Sep 18, 2018

I got an extra, empty 25mm lens board when I got my 4x5 enlarger... I drilled it out with a hole saw and a drill press (and a lot of oil), made a Besalign board with it.

chip j · Sep 27, 2018

NOT AT ALL CHEAP----Angeneiux 45mm 4.0 G10 is 25mm.

Lachlan Young · Sep 27, 2018

chip j said:
NOT AT ALL CHEAP----Angeneiux 45mm 4.0 G10 is 25mm.

Other than rarity, does it offer any significant advantage over the 50/4.0 Componon (being the main other 50mm in 25mm mount I can immediately think of)? I recall finding a review of the G10 within the last year (complete with MTF tests!) and the outcome was that the 2.8's, especially the Componon-S & Rodagon did a better job.

chip j · Sep 28, 2018

The G10 gives a very Jazz Age look to prints--look like they were taken in 30s France. The whites are the absolute brightest I'v ever seen (only a 50mm 3.5 Komura S matches it). The Schneider is very plain vanilla in comparison.

Lachlan Young · Sep 29, 2018

chip j said:
The G10 gives a very Jazz Age look to prints--look like they were taken in 30s France. The whites are the absolute brightest I'v ever seen (only a 50mm 3.5 Komura S matches it). The Schneider is very plain vanilla in comparison.

That sounds a lot like a lens operating beyond its optimisation range, or which has chromatic or similar aberration. Given that Angenieux is in the first rank of lens makers, I'm inclined towards the former. The 'bright' whites are a function of contrast, and I bet any other lens can be matched by simple paper grade adjustment. BTDT with a number of excellent lenses which (when corrected for slight contrast variances) delivered near identical results at 10x, apart from one 4-element design that was clearly at the limits of its intended performance envelope. I think that a Dagor or Tessar & a generously exposed negative printed on Lupex or Fomatone would be closer in delivering the visual style you describe.

chip j · Sep 29, 2018

I did all my enlarging lens tests on grade 1 Brovira FB, same enlarger. I was VERY disappointed that my brand-new Focotar 2 ($410) was among the least brilliant of them all.Tests were made w/my mighty Durst Micromat M35 enlarger w/spotlight bulb-- very revealing. T he Focotar 2 has nice brilliance (they all do) w/my 1c.

Modern 25mm equivalent to componon-s or rodagon 39mm lens?

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