Enlarger lens on a Rangefinder???

[AleksanderLoesch]

Hi all

Ive just heard from a friend that he read somewhere ages ago that you can use a photographic enlarger lens on a LTM/m39 (leica thread mount) camera.

I was just wondering weather this is true or not! I mean alot of the enlargers do use the m39 mount, but I dunno how focusing would work etc.... anyone know anything about this?

I do have such a lens (a nikkor i thinks) hidden somewhere in a closet at home, but even if I do dig it out, it would take a few weeks before I could get "results" from getting my own film dev'd at college. Plus I don't want to attach it to my bessa R before I know it won't hurt it

any ideas?

cheers in advance!

 

[AleksanderLoesch]

 

[CT]

You can use one assuming it fits OK of course.

It's not actually recommended for the same reason as it's not recommended to use a camera lens on an enlarger - they're totally different lenses for different purposes.

Enlarger lenses throw a flat image on the enlarger baseboard so they're designed to give very sharp images right out to the edge of the frame - much like a macro lens in that respect. Where you might experience problems is I don't think enlarger lenses are infinity corrected in the same way as a camera lens so you might experience some dodgy landscapes.

Go ahead and try it - I don't see you have much to lose - bear in mind though that if it's a coupled rangefinder camera, the enlarger lens isn't going to have the mechanism to couple to the rangefinder.

 

[AleksanderLoesch]

focusing to infinity won't be a problem!

you don't really get "landscapes" on oxford st in London

Will be a bit(well, a LOT!) of trial and error in that case, if the lens doesn't couple to the rf. Since mine has its distance measured in inches!

oh well, will have a go anyway! might turn out quite nicely as a macro lens

cheers!

 

[AleksanderLoesch]

well! done a preliminary test....

its a meopta (bellar?) lens, 50mm 4.5 apperture so its ZzZzZzZz slow! and has an estimated focus of around 75cm (better than my rooski lenses that focus at a min of around 1meter!

Which means I can get really rather close in for shots (hopefully!) and then if I whack it to its highest apperture (16) I should be able to get some shots out of it. even if it does mean I have to focus with my body Might just work for real close street shooting if I put in a 800iso film!

When I find my tripod I will also try taking shots with min apperture so I can see what a square "bokeh" will look like, since its got 4 leafs!

im quite happy now!