Which lense for bellows

teva · Post by **teva** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:12 am

I'm about to purchase m42 bellows to screw it on Minolta Dynax 7D with m42 adapter ring. What confuses me is which lens to use for stacking. I'm looking for some cheap old lenses to begin with and will go on from there. What i found so far are some old cameras which i think have usable lenses. Since i have no experience with analog photography, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could comment on this cameras and if this lenses can be used on bellows. Don't know the name of this lenses, but i think some of you can figure it out from the below pics.

Beirette vsn with some 2.8 lense i think

Zorki 4 with 3.5/50

Have no idea about this one

Thank you

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:09 pm

teva....
I would try the 50/3.5 from the Zorki (no camera surgery required). It should be mounted in "reverse" on the front of the bellows. When using camera lenses in this manner all you can do is "try it" and see how the results look. Depending on the length of the bellows you use, you will probably have magnifications about up to 3X-4X.
And you should test for the best aperture. It will probably be somewhere between f5.6 to f8.

teva · Post by **teva** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:49 am

Thanks for your comments.

What would you recommend to use for first timer? Any good and not to expensive lenses that are usable on bellows? Just to know what to search for on ebay.

Thanks
teva

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:46 am

teva wrote:What would you recommend to use for first timer? Any good and not to expensive lenses that are usable on bellows? Just to know what to search for on ebay.

Any brand-name f/1.8 or f/2.0 lens around 45-55mm, designed for 35mm film. Avoid f/1.4 -- they tend to be less sharp at optimum aperture.

Certain enlarging lenses are very good, but others are not.

A lot of information has accumulated in the forum about this. I suggest to search for the word enlarging with the author *Krebs. That will get you about 8 topics, each with many postings. Not all of the material is relevant to your questions, but there's a lot that is.

Enjoy your reading!

--Rik

Epidic · Post by **Epidic** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:33 am

I would go with a modern six-element enlarging lens from Nikon, Schneider-K, or Rodenstock. They can be fairly inexpensive from ebay. it will give you better resolution and sharpness across the frame that the old lenses you have pictured>

teva · Post by **teva** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:40 am

Tnx....i'm still reading old topics, as rik suggested.

I found on ebay
RODENSTOCK ROGONAR-S 50mm f1:2.8 ENLARGER LENS

Will this be ok?

tnx

Epidic · Post by **Epidic** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:45 am

I believe Rogonar is Rodenstock's four-element design. You should look for the Rodagon series lenses which are six-element designs.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:51 am

The most common enlarging lens that works really well for this purpose is the 50/2.8 El Nikkor (not the f4 version).

As Will mentioned, "Rogonar" is Rodenstocks 4 element Tessar type series. With Rodenstock you want the 50/2.8 Rodagon or Apo Rodagon. With Schneider look for a 50/2.8 Componon-S (or just Componon. There are Apo Componon HM as well, but not too common and usually expensive).

On eBay, you'll probably see about three or four 50/2.8 El Nikkors for every comparable Rodenstock or Schneider. It does not require much patience to get one at a very good price. $25-$50 is common and I have seen nice ones go for as little as $15!

Coincidentally I've been comparing some of the optics I use on the bellows and just yesterday "tested" my 50 El Nikkor on a coin edge (US Quarter). The results are excellent.

arlon · Post by **arlon** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:10 am

I just got 5 lenses for $30 delivered off ebay. No sure what they are, it was kind of a crap shoot. All the description mentioned where " COMPUTAR 50MM 2.8,,BESLAR 50MM 3.5,,RODENSTOCK 50MM 2.8,, EL OMEGAR 7555 3.8 EZUMAR 50MM 3.5". Probably a bunch of clunkers but I have another Computar that seems to b a good lens. Hope this one is too..