Image circle of 60mm Comparon and Componon

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I've noticed a few 60mm Comparons and Componons on ebay, does anyone know what image circle they throw? I'm guessing they might cover 6x6.

danfromm · Joined: 04 Sep 2011 Posts: 585

Companons are Symmars optimized for enlarging. Symmars are 70 degree lenses, so image circle at infinity around 84 mm. But the the 50 Componon was sold for enlarging 40 x 40, not 6x6, so I wouldn't count on 72 degrees.

Comparons are Xenars optimized for enlarging. I don't believe there was ever a 60 mm Comparon. 50, yes, 75, yes, 60 no. 50 and 60 for 24x36 and 40x40 respectively.

You may be thinking of the 60 mm Componar, a triplet. Forget it, just forget it.

Young feller, every rat hole you've looked into has been thoroughly investigated long ago. There are no new rat holes, and very little easily found treasure.

twinquartz · Expire: 2013-10-29

danfromm · Joined: 04 Sep 2011 Posts: 585

Kid, if indeed you are one, that's a new version of quite an old idea, adapters.

Not at all the same class of rat as the lenses themselves. Unfortunately nearly all of the easily-found lenses for formats larger than 24x36 are fairly well known and understood. I'm tempted to say that lenses from the former East bloc are an exception, but the unknown ones are unknown because they're uncommon.

Ian, bless him, dreams of finding buried treasure so that his photographic equipment budget will buy better and perhaps even more equipment than appears possible. I sympathize with him, share his dream. Unfortunately the market for used photographic equipment has got harder for dreamers such as us. When the internet became generally available in the mid-'90s, camera dealers had all sorts of obscure (then) lenses in stock at low prices. And when the US attic (and then the rest of the world's attic) was emptied on eBay (I first bought via eBay in 1997) there were many wonderful bargains. Now the attics are empty, more people who know what's what than ever before are looking diligently, and Ian and I are somewhat frustrated by the scarcity of good stuff at low prices. My response has been to be patient. His has been to revisit known, um, blind alleys. I wish him luck, fear he's doomed to continued frustration.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Dan's right, I mistook the Comparon 4.5/60 for a Componar, so yes, it's a triplet which I shall forget. I just thought the WA Componon 60 looked intriguing.

Dan is also completely correct in his description of my predicament. Even in the last 2-3 years the prices of many items has really soared and it's getting hard to find many items at good prices now. A great example is how anything, and I mean anything with the names Dallmeyer, TTH, Cooke or Ross written on it now costs quite a lot. Even something as common and mundane as a Dallmeyer Popular Enlarging Anastigmat fetches a high price now, even though it's nothing more than a Tessar type enlarging lens and the budget line from Dallmeyer, although the LVM praises them highly.

I'm actually listening to ya Dan, for instance I'm studying the LVM a lot and being very picky about what I will spend my cash on. The other day I saw a nice condition Selfix 820 go for a very good price and I was sorely tempted, but I read about your experiences of the Xpres 3.8/105 and decided to pass, I have a pair of Bessas with excellent lenses that cost me very little, and I doubt the Selfix 820 can do anything my Bessas can't. I also read your experiences of the Ross WA Xpress 4/5" and decided to try both my copies, one is rather good, sharp even wide open, the other is a flary soft thing, as your copy.

So far the only things I've bought are an Angulon 6.8/65 and a Prontor-S shutter, both at good prices, so I'm definitely not going to waste my funds by buying many cheap but not so cheerful items, I'm intending to make carefully targetted purchases based on heavy research and consultation of other users.

Now back to trying to extract the rear cell from my Componon-S 5.6/100, damn thing is very hard to get a good grip on, Componon 5.6/80 the rear cell protrudes and is a piece of cake to remove. I just happened to have these two componons, had them for years, hence I'm going to give them a play.

danfromm · Joined: 04 Sep 2011 Posts: 585

Ian, why are you trying to extract y'r Componons' rear cells? If you want to use them as taking lenses at magnifications less than 1:1 they're fine as is. Remember that, for example, taking at 1:10 and enlarging 10x put the negative and subject, sorry, print, in the same positions relative to the lens.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Because it's in an M39 barrel and I want to put the cells in shutter, they are a straight fit into a #0 such as you find on a 6x9 folder.