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[OM] Scratches on enlarger Lens? Bah!

Subject: [OM] Scratches on enlarger Lens? Bah!
From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:57:31 +0200
Hi All,

Just sharing a bit of wisdom I recently discovered. I *finally* got  
the Omega D5XL enlarger going
(was standing for a year waiting for a power supply), and having a  
ball printing 6x7cm negatives.
I've up to now only been doing 35mm darkroom work, and there is simply  
no comparison to the bigger
negatives.

Anyway, the topic of my post: I did some 35mm again today, and up to  
now I have been using one of two
lenses, the 50mm f/4.5 Color Magnolar fitted to the Agfa Varioscop 60  
enlarger (lovely little thing)
and EL-Nikkor 50mm f/4. Both of these quite pristine, and I have been  
happy with the results.

With the Omega enlerger, amongst the many lenses I got with was a  
Rodenstock Rodagon 80mm f/4 which was *really*
beat-up. I though i'd give it a try for 35mm (the enlarger is so huge,  
80mm gives a bit more reasonable
working space). I disassembled it, cleaned it up, but after all the  
work the lens
still had a tiny bit of fungus inside, as well as a severely scratched  
front element. I don't know
what one earth people do to lenses sometimes, but I am thinking  
somebody sharpened their kitchen knives
on this one. This was bad.

Pleasant my surprise to see the end-results (some negatives shot with  
the Zuiko 90/2.0 Macro) - this is by
far the best enlarger lens of the lot. It is seriously sharp and  
contrasty, but somehow less "muddy" than
the other lenses, clearer highlights and shadows. It's hard to  
explain, but the point is, the output is
visibly superior, and I will for the time being use nothing else for  
35mm.

On eBay, this lens would never sell (element looks badly scratched)  
and I suspect we have the same issue here
as with normal lenses, where people get paranoid about a scratch or  
two, yet the results are unaffected.

Anyway, if the results *are* affected, it's still a bloody amazing  
lens, better than the Nikor/Agfa!

So, UNLIKE advice on some online forums, do NOT stay away from  
scratched enlarger lenses if a bargain is to
be had - you will not see any degradation of image quality! At best,  
this will be a theoretical issue pertaining
to that lest 0.01% of image quality, and all your other factors  
(sharpness/contrast of image on negative, enlarger
alignment, developing times/temperatures, etc) will never be perfect  
enough for you to notice this.


O.T: Although I never talked to Walt, I will think of him also - he  
sure seems to have
      made a difference around here...

-- 
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