Has anyone done a side by side comparison between a Componon-S and an El Nikkor enlarger lens? The El Nikkor's appear to be less expensive, yet sharpness and contrast appear to be Nikkor strengths. I'm interested in a 100mm or 105mm, although it's possible a valid comparison could be made at any focal length.

-- neil poulsen (neil.fg@att.net), October 26, 2000

Answers

The best I can offer is a reference to the Sept/Oct 1985 and Jan/Feb 1986 issues of Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques. Then read Post Exposure, and have Ctein convince you there's so much sample-to-sample variation that inter-brand comparisons are of dubious value. Despite his discussion of randomly imperfect element centering, he does include a table of his own enlarger lens test results.

-- Sal Santamaura (bc_hill@qwestinternet.net), October 26, 2000.

I have used both Nikkor and Schneider enlarging lenses and cannot see any visible difference between either, they are both excellent !!! Now I use Schneider enlarging lenses simply because I managed to pick up "as new" used ones at a good price, but I doubt if anyone would be able to tell what brand of lenses were used for any print!!!!!!

-- paul owen (paulowen_2000@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.

Hear, hear, Paul.
"If the picture is good enough, then who cares if the camera was good enough?" (- H.Cartier-Bresson, I believe.)

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), October 27, 2000.