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A rare bird Rodenstock Rodagon-WA 4/40 vs Hexanon 1.8/40
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2023 2:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
eggplant wrote:
alex ph wrote:

The brochure also describes a pretty weird system of supplementary snap-on lenses which change the focal length of Rodagons in fraction of mms, for example the 40mm lens becomes 39.9mm or 40.3mm. Curious to which purpose such fine graded lenses could serve and at


Well, as the brochure says

...
Fine tuning to ensure no wasted paper/film.

This reminds me of Schneider's VP Cinelux 35mm projection lenses, VP standing for Variable Prime, designed to allow projected image to precisely fit the screen from the 7% FL adjustment range. A different method employed to do this though. Supplementary close-up lenses would make sense on this enlarger.


Over the years I've purchased many Tominon E36/E36C/E66/E66C/E90 lenses, and many of then came to me mounted with supplementary (screw-on) lenses with a wide range of + and - diopter values. These were the equivalent of the Rodenstock lenses for fine-tuning FL within the minilab and other printers the Tominon lenses were mounted. Not sure how useful they are but the concept and orginal application is fairly cool. Perhaps someday I'll need just exactly the right FL and I might find a use for them.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ray Parkhurst wrote:
eggplant wrote:
alex ph wrote:

The brochure also describes a pretty weird system of supplementary snap-on lenses which change the focal length of Rodagons in fraction of mms, for example the 40mm lens becomes 39.9mm or 40.3mm. Curious to which purpose such fine graded lenses could serve and at


Well, as the brochure says

...
Fine tuning to ensure no wasted paper/film.

This reminds me of Schneider's VP Cinelux 35mm projection lenses, VP standing for Variable Prime, designed to allow projected image to precisely fit the screen from the 7% FL adjustment range. A different method employed to do this though. Supplementary close-up lenses would make sense on this enlarger.


Over the years I've purchased many Tominon E36/E36C/E66/E66C/E90 lenses, and many of then came to me mounted with supplementary (screw-on) lenses with a wide range of + and - diopter values. These were the equivalent of the Rodenstock lenses for fine-tuning FL within the minilab and other printers the Tominon lenses were mounted. Not sure how useful they are but the concept and orginal application is fairly cool. Perhaps someday I'll need just exactly the right FL and I might find a use for them.


Indeed and it's probably also the reason for the existence of a number of varifocal and zoom lenses as well. For example those made for such minilab/printing applications for example by Noritsu, Fujinon, Kowa/Computar, Nikon, Schneider and Rodenstock. The Vario-Rodagon existed in (at least) two different (somewhat limited) focal length ranges, one from 42-50 mm and another one from 44-52 mm. Perhaps there were more though... I have the latter and it's a pretty capable lens. Would be interesting to know how it compares to a 40 mm + diopters for example...

Beeing the center of attention by simple.joy, on Flickr

Frankly, sharpness is... everything! by simple.joy, on Flickr

You've got to feel in the gaps... by simple.joy, on Flickr


PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
simple.joy wrote:

Beeing the center of attention by simple.joy, on Flickr


Wow!

Dear Ray, could you please make a shot with one of your lenses "naked" and with an additional lens on? This could give us a chance to see the effective difference in FL and in IQ. I am especially curious about the latter.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great images simple.joy!


PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just a couple more of desaturated (BW) shots taken with this lens.

#1


#2


#3


PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2024 9:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Took Rodagon-WA for a walk again. Each time impressed with its the clarity of its rendering.

Some natural and decorative foliage.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1 Like 1


PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:
Took Rodagon-WA for a walk again. Each time impressed with its the clarity of its rendering.


For you - having the original images - it may well look impressing, but all I can see is an 1 MP (!) image Wink.
Of course any lens looks good at a resolution of 1 MP ... especially if it was taken using the sweet spot of the lens (APS-C on a full frame lens).

I'm sure it would be appreciated if you could add a 100% crop from the center and the corner. This would give us some meaningful information, in addition to juts "beautiful images". If you could add some information about the camera and the aperture used it would be even better. Well, I can get the camera information via EXIF data (NEX-5N), but that's a bit inconvenient. Aperture used is impossible to know ...

Thanks Wink

S


PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
In one of the previous posts, here, I presented a couple of crops taken with FF and compared the lens rendering to the well reputed Hexanon.

I gladly post some more 100% crops upon your request. All shots were taken with Sony Nex, as opposed to my mentioned post. The aperture was wide open, the light was on the weak side. As a result, the shots are handheld and some vibration might affect the IQ. All crops were not subject to PP.

#1 Frame center


#2 Frame corner


#3 Towards the frame margin


#4 Frame center


#5 Frame margin


PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2024 12:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:

I gladly post some more 100% crops upon your request. All shots were taken with Sony Nex, as opposed to my mentioned post. The aperture was wide open, the light was on the weak side. As a result, the shots are handheld and some vibration might affect the IQ. All crops were not subject to PP.


Thanks a lot! The 100% images look really clean, expecially when it comes to CAs. Impressive, as 16 MP APS-C corresponds to 36 MP FF!
Many moons ago when buying my first enlarger lens I had to choose between the Rodagon-WA 4/40mm, the APO Rodagon 2.8/50mm and the APO Componon 4/45mm - and went for the latter.

S


PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2024 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Glad you confirm the positive impression coming from the resized shots.

Ah, you were very selective for your first enlarger lens! I looked at samples from Apo Componon used as taking lens. It gives a similar level of clarity and sharpness to this one.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2024 3:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:
Glad you confirm the positive impression coming from the resized shots.

Ah, you were very selective for your first enlarger lens!


Yep, I was. I just had bought lenses such as the Minolta AF 2.8/20mm, 1.4/50mm, 2.8/100mm Macro and 2.8/200mm APO. I was using them mainly on Kodak Technical Pan 2415 high-res b/w film, and the results were astounding. For those too young to remember it: The TP 2415 was a panchromatic high res film with extremely fine grain (RMS Cool and an extended sensitivity into the far red / near IR, thus resulting in outstanding landscape images if used with a red filter. It was able to resolve 320 l/mm, roughly corresponding to 90 MP on 24x36mm FF cameras.

So using a high res enlarger lens really made sens!

S


PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2024 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That sounds intriguing! Do you have an example of your old printed and recently scanned photos? It would be interesting to see how they look turned back into digital, in terms of resolution.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2024 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It looks to me like the Konica was used without a sun hood,
which is evident from the pictures.

While rodenstock has glass deep like macro lenses so its kind of a sun hood itself.

Therefore, in this case, those 'compare' pictures are not relevant.

Treat both lenses same when comparing.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hexanon 1.8/40 is a multicoated lens highly resistant to stray light. It does not hurt it to shoot against the sun and in artificial city lights, like in this case. So, usually this is the lens I use without hood and fearless of overexposure. It's an excellent lens of which I like the feeling, and the idea was not to discriminate it in any sense, just to put it side-by-side with the other.

Rodagon-WA seems to be multicoated too, and if the recessed position of the front glass saves it a bit better from stray light, the comparaison of both hoodless still remains fair in my view.

Hexanon (first) and Rodagon-WA (second) in difficult light conditions. Both stand them equally well.

#1


#2


PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2024 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:


#2 Konica Hexanon 1.8/40, at f4, SOOC


#4 Konica Hexanon 1.8/40, at f4, SOOC





to be more specific:

- this is not how a good copy of 40/1.8 behaves, so or you are having too much light (no hood) or maybe your setup was not right

cant imagine the third reason


PostPosted: Wed Oct 02, 2024 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am not sure to have entirely caught the point. The difference in IQ between the two lenses is not critical. And you could see more samples coming from Hexanon in the other post I linked. I don't think all this reveals a bad copy or a particular negative impact of the hoodless usage.

Do you have a comparison (your own or a link) of using the Hexanon with and without hood? You made me curious about the possibility to considerably improve the IQ of a multicoated lens in this way.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 02, 2024 11:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
A hood prevents omnipresent stray light from reducing contrast no matter multicoating or not! Smile


PostPosted: Thu Oct 03, 2024 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:

Do you have a comparison (your own or a link) of using the Hexanon with and without hood? You made me curious about the possibility to considerably improve the IQ of a multicoated lens in this way.


i dont think so or i cant remember .. i consider such pics mistakes and i throw them away.

Look, the AR 40 is a great lens, even for a vintage model.
This should not have happened without something going wrong.
So, maybe take the pictures again using everything in AUTO mode, and then try a manual setup.
I believe that the sun hood is 49mm, so that should be a standard size that is easy to find.

The second picture (from my last post) is in shadow, and I don’t see any direct sunlight.
This is another reason to believe that something went wrong.
I think the camera settings may have been overexposed, likely with the aperture set at f/8-11.
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