Rodenstock Omegaron 90mm f4.5 enlarger lens

[Jesito]

I own a handful of enlarger lenses that I've been keeping in one of my storage boxes waiting the time where I could test them.
Doing a cleanup past weekend, I took them out and examined them to check for their status.

They are:

Rodenstock Omegaron 135mm f/4.5 (50mm diameter thread)
Rodenstock Omegaron 90mm f/4.5 (39mm diameter thread)
Schneider-Kreuznach Comparon 150mm f/5.6 (32mm diameter thread)
Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 50mm f/4.5 (25mm diameter thread)
Schneider-Kreuznach Componar Durst 105mm f/4.5 (32mm diameter thead)

So I decided it was time to try them.

The most complex problem is adapting the lenses, but the Omegaron 90mm has a standard 39mm thread, compatible with M39.
So I started with it.
Also these lenses don't have any helicoid, so to be able to focus they have to be put into one of those or into a bellows.

I had handy an old Pentacon simple bellows. And also the M39-M42 ring that came with the J-9 from Martin, and also I had my M42 adapter for the E-330. All the parts seemed to be there, so I only had to assemble the puzzle:

This is the lens:



The carrier for the enlarger is fixed by a screwed washer, easy to remove. In it's place, the m39-m42 adapter:





These are the three elements that setup the lens:



Assembled:



And mounted on the camera:









Time to do some testing (night time, so only close focus tests):

This is the test bench:



and these are the test shots at two different distances:







A 100% crop:



Very promising, I'll have to swap the bellows and use the Pentax Auto Bellows that has (if I'm not wrong) micrometric adjust.
Also I'll have to build some kind of adapters for the other lenses. I've been unable to find anything alredy built.
What most puzzles me is the narrow DOF @f4.5 I expected a wider one...

Hope this will be useful for someone else.
Regards.
Jes.

[Attila]

I did use mine with 'feet' focusing it produce wonderful results, usually all great, Rodenstock especially. I have 35mm Rodenstock I could get sharp image only from 30-50cm distance on m4/3.

[Lightshow]

I'm in the middle of a project myself, I'm just waiting for the parts to arrive, I hope I don't need to order anything more, Ill post details when I finish it.
I hope to see some daylight pictures to see the results.

[Jesito]

[Jesito]

[ForenSeil]

I love enlarger lenses on bellows
The rendering and the color looks like Tessar for me.
Can someone confirm that?

[Jesito]

[Lightshow]

I think I did find some adapters while searching google, but I didn't order any, I'll post links if I find any.
An option is to go to a machine shop where they could turn an adapter to suit what ever mount you have, you may have to bring the lens and adapter for them to measure.

[pich900]

I have discover few months ago the Enlarger lenses and I also really like to use these little gems on bellow....Yours samples show clearly the great IQ from this Rodenstock!
I have few Enlarger and large format lenses and all (of almost all) with different size's mount. I have found a quite easy solution and above that quite cheap solution to use almost all of them with only one adapter ....
I use a Pentacon6/Nikon mount and I just simply attached the lens WITH FLANGE (very important!) on the adapter and simply mount the adapter on the bellow, et voila ..here are some samples:




The P6 adapter can also be found in M42 or other mount of course....when the flange is not include with the lens (or when the flange is too large or too small to be fixed in the P6 adapter), it's quite easy and cheap to make one (if you have the machine otherwise via a specialised company, it's just a simple metal flange with a thread hole in the middle!).....
Hope it can help

[Jesito]

[Jesito]

[Jesito]

Some daylight shots:









Focusing to infinity (and beyond) to extreme macro:



Lots of fun waiting to be enjoyed...

Regards.
Jes.

[pich900]

Great samples and yes, these enlarger lenses are realy fun to use!
May be a good idea should be to open a new topic for enlarger/repro/large format lenses on bellows with DSL-R cam where all members could post samples (and quick reviews about lenses)

[Jesito]

[Jesito]

Some more samples, this time mounted on the NEX-5 and the Asahi Pentax bellows:









Some tests outside:











Regards.
Jes.

[patrickh]

Welcome to the world of enlarger lenses Jes. Look for Apo-Rodagon, Rodagon, Schneider Componon-S and El Nikkor, they are typically the best, although not always the cheapest. I cannot believe how expensive they have all become in the past couple of years. There is a relatively cheap M25/M39 adapter often available on fleabay. Most are threaded M39. You will find that focal lengths below about 80 tend to be quite difficult to use, except for very close macro.


patrickh

[Jesito]