Kodak Printing Ektar 89mm f3.8

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 4:51 am Post subject: Kodak Printing Ektar 89mm f3.8

Thanks to Klaus, I ended up buying one of these Printing Ektar lenses to test. I have not been impressed with Kodak "printing" lenses in the past, but this lens is clearly different. The ebay seller was in LA and had a few of these, new in box, so I took a chance. I guess they were surplus from film printing equipment. Mount is M38 so was easy to "tape" adapt to M39. This lens has aperture adjustable from slightly larger than f3.8 down to f22 and is optimized for 2:1 in one direction and 1:2 in the other. I determined that the main difference in orientations is coverage. At magnification of 0.7:1, one direction had much sharper corners than in the other direction. Central sharpness is about the same both ways. I did an aperture sweep and found the optimum aperture is between f4 and f5.6. I took the test shot below at f5.6, in best orientation. The performance is superb! It's not quite as sharp as my 95mm Printing-Nikkor, but it's hard to tell, and it has similarly flat field. It also seems extremely well-corrected for LoCA, and may be apochromatic. I see no color shifts as I move focus.

After my initial testing, I went back to eBay to buy another one, but alas they were all sold...

Here's an image of a Lincoln Cent at around 0.7:1, f5.6:

If you want to view or download full-size image, go here:

http://s943.photobucket.com/user/rparkhurst/media/IMG_0030_1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Klaus had done a review of this back in 2011. Look here for the review:

http://forum.mflenses.com/kodak-printing-ektar-3-8-89mm-t43814,highlight,%2Bprinting+%2Bektar.html

Thanks Klaus for pointing me toward this lens...Ray

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Great that it worked out so well Ray! I was very impressed when I found it a while ago. As it is optimized for short conjugates, it should have worked well for coin imaging; great to see that it does! And yes, I believe it is indeed apochromatic, a modified double gauss scheme with 7 lens elements by George H. Alkin (patented to Kodak).

I bought another one too, just great to have a new old stock one in makers box!