Sometimes a negative for printing on photographic paper. It’s an elegant solution for making prints that are much larger than a negative.
Unfortunately, another casualty from the rising digital photography boom has been a dramatic decrease in the need for darkroom work. As a result, enlargers are showing up more often in the used gear market. Alongside them, more used enlarger lenses are also for sale. Naturally, along with used enlargers, there are a growing number of used enlarger lenses for sale. And therein lies an opportunity for crafty photographers.
You can buy these vintage enlarger lenses for $5 – $35 on the used market. Thankfully, photographers used them in an almost totally protected, indoor secluded room. So, most of these obsolete darkroom discoveries are in near-mint condition. Think of the names like El-Nikkor and Schneider-Kreuznach. Paired with focal lengths of 50mm, 75mm, and 80mm, these will be your best candidates for high-quality second-hand enlarger lenses.
Adapting the Dark to the Light
Most of the used enlarger lenses that you’ll encounter have L39/M39 Leica Screw Thread mounts. While very few of these vintage lenses come with the required retaining ring for fastening to an enlarger lens board, the M39 mount is ideal for finding suitable adapters for mating with a mirrorless camera body.
As a demonstration of this camera mounting flexibility, we’ll integrate two enlarger lenses with Fotodiox adapters. for attachment to a MFT camera. Note that we’ll use them along with another adapter from Fotasy. We’ll use a 50mm El-Nikkor f/4 enlarging lens and a Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S 80mm f/5.6 enlarging lens.
Adapters You’ll Need
The required adapters for the El-Nikkor lens:
- Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter – M39 (x1 Thread Pitch) Screw Mount Russian SLR Lens to M42 Screw Mount System Camera Body for $9
- Fotodiox Lens Mount Macro Adapter – M42 Screw Mount SLR Lens to Micro Four Thirds (MFT, M4/3) Mount Mirrorless Camera Body for Variable Close Focus for $45.39
And the adapters needed for the Schneider-Kreuznach lens:
- Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter – M39 (x1 Thread Pitch) Screw Mount Russian SLR Lens to M42 Screw Mount System Camera Body for $9
- Fotodiox Lens Mount Macro Adapter – M42 Screw Mount SLR Lens to Micro Four Thirds (MFT, M4/3) Mount Mirrorless Camera Body for Variable Close Focus for $45.39
- This adapter, for the Schneider-Kreuznach lens, is NOT made by Fotodiox:
- Fotasy M42 to M42 Lens Macro Helicoid Adapter, 42mm Focusing Helicoid Extention Tube, 15mm to 26mm, fits M42 Screw Mount Lens for $20.99
Please note: the El-Nikkor 50mm lens will not be able to achieve a “true” infinity focus with these adapters. This lens is still perfect for macro photography, however.
Please evaluate the following sample photographs taken with enlarger lenses:
Using low-cost, defunct enlarger lenses can be as valuable as gold to a mirrorless camera owner seeking high-quality optics for use in a variety of photographic situations. While the requirement for using helicoid adapters with these focus-less lenses does create a slight inconvenience, the ridiculously low cost coupled with low distortion and high resolution can make coming out of the darkroom closet a daylight photography game changer.
Enjoy.
