Topic: Enlarger Lenses

[SLVR]

So I recently picked up an 80mm Rodagon for my darkroom.

Problem is it never came with a retaining ring on the lens. The person who was selling claims that lenses never came new with retaining rings and for some reason I feel like thats total BS.

She says that the lenses all needed to be adapted differently but hearing this, sure each lens has to fit a lensboard that fits the enlarger, but it would still need a retaining ring to mount in the lens board would it not?

I just want to confirm this before I send my disappointed email back, considering I paid EX condition price for an incomplete lens.

[jharr]

I would think that if there are threads on the back of the lens, then it is intended to mount with a retaining ring and most likely was sold with one. Having said that, I am drawing this conclusion from my experience with large format lenses and not enlargers.

[SLVR]

I'm of the same thinking.

I find it hard to believe that a german lens company with high quality lenses and reputation would sell a lens without a retaining ring. The germans love their precision and machining.To take an expensive lens and mount it with a poorly machined chinese knockoff just seems wrong.

[Jeff Warden]

The seller may be right.  If you know the year and model number it should be pretty easy to confirm.  This one did not include the retaining ring.

http://www.pdf-manuals.com/rodenstock-80mm-f-4-apo-rodagon-n-enlarging-lens-452341-1620-manual

[SLVR]

Ah yes. I have the 5.6 not the F4. But the APO looks like the better of the two and if it doesn't have the ring I assume then mine wouldn't have come with it either.

What a rip!

[Sandeha Lynch]

I have a Rodagon 80/5.6 and nope, definitely no ring came with it.  How you mount it will depend on your enlarger I guess.  I have a Super Chromega D so three lenses are mounted on a rotating disk, with each lens on its own mini plate.  It looks like there would not be any space behind for a ring to sit, given that the disk must rotate smoothly when you need to change to a different focal length.  It could be that some were sold with rings, but if the majority of enlargers of the period had threaded plates then perhaps it was down to the market.  Anyways, each mini plate has a threaded boss, presumably for the most common sizes.  For mine I found an M39 adaptor ring, (possibly off a dead macro bellows, I'm not sure now) and screwed that to the plate.  The lens just screws into place, and stays there.

[Francois]

I have quite a few enlarger lenses and the only one I got that came with a collar is an old Meopta with the smaller diameter (I think it was M20 or something).
I have a small Durst and a small LPL enlargers and the retaining ring is built-in the focus mount.
On my Omega D2, the lens is an oddball that is mounted in the extension cone using a special mount...

From memory, the mount was "user selectable" on many brands...

[SLVR]

Ah you remind me I had a smaller enlarger with some bellowes that I think have a screwmount as well. I should check to see if it has the right size. Could save myself some coin.

It's my understanding that the lens came from use on a D2/3 enlarger. I'm running a C67 so I've got these little lens plates to deal with. Pretty straight forward. Just coming across the exact stuff locally can be a pain.

[Francois]

I know. And you usually have more stuff in TO than I have in MTL...

I'm checking my venerable 1992 Calumet catalog that I keep simply because everything is in it. Lenses didn't come with a retention ring. The rings were sold in two flavors: regular for all flat and recessed boards and thin for the Omega turret and extended cone mounting plates.

The rings used to retail for 4.95$ and 7.95$ respectively