wide angle enlarging lens

[Neil Grant]

do these do a better job of concealing dust/blemishes on negs than normal 'el' lenses? after all, they receive light from a wider range of angles after it's passed through the negative.

 

[darkosaric]

I use 40mm lens and I did not noticed difference against 50mm or 75mm. More difference of concealing dust/blemishes you will achieve by using diffuser lightning in enlarger.

 

[ic-racer]

do these do a better job of concealing dust/blemishes on negs than normal 'el' lenses? after all, they receive light from a wider range of angles after it's passed through the negative.

They make your mixing box opening look smaller. They are not soft focus lenses.

 

[RobC]

suggest your clean you negatives before printing then dust is not a problem. Them correct any blemishes with spottone after printing.

 

[EdSawyer]

agreed, angle won't matter really for that. A diffusion enlarger (cold light) will make a huge difference though.

 

[Dr Croubie]

do these do a better job of concealing dust/blemishes on negs than normal 'el' lenses? after all, they receive light from a wider range of angles after it's passed through the negative.

If any lens, light, theory, or method can conceal a speck of dust that's on the negative's surface, then they'll do just as good a job concealing grain and detail in the photo...

 

[cliveh]

do these do a better job of concealing dust/blemishes on negs than normal 'el' lenses? after all, they receive light from a wider range of angles after it's passed through the negative.

No.

 

[Neil Grant]

The question was posed out of curiosity rather than from a producer of dirty or damaged negs - although inevitably I do get a few of them from time to time. It's also difficult to clean a neg entirely of dust and debris. My own enlarger is a diffuser type - and I'm rarely troubled by dusty negs. My theoretical observation is based on the fact that a wide angle lens would 'see' more of the enlarger's diffusing light panel - hence it would appear larger relative to a dust spec and as we should all know, a larger light source is softer than a smaller one. Sounds like a practical test would be the only way of testing the theory.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Angle of incidence does have an effect, but so do other factors. But in terms of a wide angle of view, it's just like casting a shadow sideways; it won't look smaller but exaggerated! I'm speaking in principle. But since using a wider-angle lenses tend to give optically inferior results compared to high-quality longer ones, there might be a bit less resolution of the blemishes. Then you've got to contend with the type of diffusion, flatness of the holder, quality of the lens, blah blah. Everything else hypothetically being equal, you will NOT improve the situation with a wider lens.