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Rodenstock Omegaron 35mm f4 wide angle enlarger lens
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:12 pm    Post subject: Rodenstock Omegaron 35mm f4 wide angle enlarger lens Reply with quote
I found this lens today it did pickup my interest due first wide angle enlarger lens what I seen. Any experience ?


PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 3:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Rodenstock Omegaron 35mm f4 wide angle enlarger lens Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
I found this lens today it did pickup my interest due first wide angle enlarger lens what I seen. Any experience ?


I was looking for one of these myself a while ago. Wink

Generally speaking the focal lengths less than 50mm are limited in coverage, so they are not suitable for enlarging full-size 24x36 35mm (135 format) negatives. These are lenses which were designed for the "sub-miniature" sizes - 16mm, 8mm, 110 format, Minox, etc, or perhaps 35mm half-frame negatives. Available focal lengths were 40mm, 38mm, 35mm, 30mm, 28mm, 25mm... with just a few 20mm and I think even a 15mm was available at one time for the Minox.

The "wide-angle" variants have a bit more coverage though, so you can use them just a bit outside of the "normal" ranges. I believe the 40mm WA variants were typically OK for full 24x36 frames, although I remember one that was only recommended for 24x24. For the 35mm focal length, I'm not sure if you could get a full frame - perhaps so if you are willing to accept vignetting or other optical issues in the corners.


Hope that helps. I might have a datasheet for this lens, I'll have to do some digging though to find it. Wink


PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If you use them for macro work, then you have to get really close to the subject. The Omegaron range by Rodenstock was made for the Omega enlarger, I believe, and so will not be their top (excellent) quality.


patrickh


PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you guys! I will try to make some macro shoots with this lens, nothing else in plan.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Click on them to get higher resolution images!




PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have it (two actually) and it is not a bad, but also no exceptional lens.
[I have the original Rodenstock version and not the rebatched Omage version, but the lens is the same optically]

Same IQ you show in your images Orio.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have bought a few (well, over 20 actually) inexpensive enlarger lenses (EL's), including Apos, Eastman, Ilex, Industar, Komura, Leitz, Novoflex, Rodenstock, Schneider, Steinheil, Vivitar, Wollensak, etc. I find that 50's are common and cheap on eBay, 75's are very common and dirt cheap, and 35's are rare and mostly costly, even the indifferent ones. I felt fortunate to buy a Spiratone 35/3.5 for only US$15 because the same lens sold for TEN TIMES (10X) THAT MUCH just a couple weeks earlier.

Most EL's under 50mm that I have seen, list and sell for prices I think are much too high -- for me, anyway. (But I'm a cheap bastard!) Especially since I get similar results by mount-reversing a camera lens. Reversed, such show the edge-to-edge flatfield sharpness I want with EL's.

Even cheap crappy camera lenses improve when reversed. I recently tried a Pentax SMC-A 35-80/4-5.6, among the worst lenses Pentax ever sold. Reversed, its images are quite decent, except for a bit of fringing in extreme contrast conditions. This zoom (reversed) reaches 2x / 2:1 magnification at 35mm, will focus close at all focal lengths, and at 70-80mm will even focus to or past infinity. I think my next 'macro-zoom' may be a short manual zoom in some neglected mount, maybe Miranda or Konica, only to be used reversed.

Last edited by RioRico on Sun Apr 17, 2011 8:24 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
What is your favorite from all ?


PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
What is your favorite from all ?

Which of my children is my favorite?!?!? I love them all!!

My *real* favorite is the Schneider Betavaron 50-125/4-5.6 enlarger zoom, a heavy (810g) masterpiece. I need the right focusing helicoid (~30-90mm) to make it a perfect all-purpose lens.

My newest is a Leitz Varob 50/3.5, which I haven't tried much yet -- I will use it on my upcoming journey. I have read that it is an Elmar.

What I do use the most are the Wollensak Enlarging Raptars 75/4.5 and 162/4.5; Apos Elgeet Colorstigmat 90/4.5; Novoflex Noflexar 105/3.5; and Ilex Solar Anastigmat 140/4.5. Probably the Noflexar gets the most use, don't ask me why, it just calls out to me. The Wollensaks are sharp but a little low in contrast.

I also use my Industar-58 75/3.5 for a very specific purpose. It is a small lens at the bottom of a big heavy black cone (470g). I have mounted it on cheap PK macro tubes for a fixed focus of ~1m. It is an ideal headshot portrait lens, although it is a bit frightening -- subjects shot with it tend to look somewhat nervous. Wink

And what is YOUR favorite enlarging lens?


PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have Schneider Comparon 4/50mm that is a beautiful tiny lens, it's actually C mount with a c-m39 step up ring screwed on. Has a ton of blades, at least 15 I think, hard to count them.

I also have a Schneider Componar 4.5/75mm that only has 4 blades so has a square iris, it feels a lot lighter and cheaper than the Comparon, it's als a c mount lens with an M39 step-up adapter.

My fave though is the Schneider-Kreuznach Componon f/5.6 80mm M39, extremely sharp from corner to corner but glares a lot so needs a deep hood.

I also have a Rodenstock Rodagon f/5.6 80mm in M39 but it has two chips out of the back element, no tried it to see if they are noticeable but I bet they are and they are pretty severe, someone has dropped it on a hard surface and the rear element protrudes slightly.
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