Schneider Enlarger lens

[ndancona]

I was given this lens lately by someone I know who was big into photography in the 1960's and 70's. It's the lens from his Enlarger he said he had onto it as it was worth some money at the time.
I know nothing about developing and dark room work. What do you think? Is this something I should hold onto? It looks clean and mould free.

 

[Derrel]

Welllll, it was worth some money at ne time, but it is merely a 50mm f/4 Schneider Krueznach enlarging lens, and it's branded as having been marketed with a Durst enlarger...I am not an expert on enlarger lenses, but this a borg standard "decent " lens of its era. The box is nice to have. That adds a slight bit of value, but darkroom work has slid off a cliff, and demand drives prices on older, used gear. I would check e-Bay for sold item prices. My gut tells me this lens will likely not bring enough money to take two people out to dinner, at least in 2017. Hopefull I am wrong, and there's a huge untapped market for Durst-branded S-K Companon 50's.

Wait,wait, wait...looked on e-bay for similars.... $28 to $30 or so for those for S-K Omega-branded enlarging lenses. Not sure if Durst-branded Schneiders were as popular, or less popular. He is right--in the 1960's and 1970's this was worth some money, at that time. Since then, most darkroom gear has lost a huge percentage of its value.

 

[Frank F.]

You should put some more research in it. Some of the enlarger Schneiders are really good adapted to Nikon or Canon mount, especially those designated with "APO".

First thing to do is mont it on bellows and capture a test image with a high res DSLR as a diagnostic device. Some of these enlarger lenses have a huge image circle and can be reverse mounted and used for macro work too, Michael Erlewine has found some up for grabs that even outperform EL Nikkors: Medium Format Lenses for the DSLR

Another useful link: New Series: Lenses for Close-Up and the DSLR: Volume Two

 

[Derrel]

But his is not even a Componon-S, let alone one of their APO models...this is a basic, borg-standard f/4, 50mm, branded for Durst, for an enlarger kit. Again, this never was a high-performance lens, and it's a 50mm from a Durst 35mm enlarger kit. This was the equivalent of the 18-55 VR lens for a Nikon D5xxx series kit. Some people wanted a "German" enlarger lens back then, others wanted an "EL-Nikkor" from Nikon.

But yeah...its value as a useful lens, for taking close-up pictures, probably outweighs the $30 e-Bay value, less the e-bay fee and the paypal cut of the cost.

 

[webestang64]

Now if that was a Rodenstock.........