joerg_krusche

Hi all,

for those of you still on this thread, a pic on the long Apo ronars.

Best

Joerg

Bob,

both 5 FS shutter and Control box with cable are available on the used items market. I use them and am very satisfied. Because of the large and mechanically strong front and rear threads of the shutter I am using the shutter to front mount long lenses (750/890/1000) and to mount via an adapter the front and rear cells of the 1000 and 1200 mm Apo Ronars. Although discontinued for a while this shutter is built to last.

These shutters when new were not amongst the cheap ones, and I am happy they appear on the market from time to time.

Best

Joerg

Michael,

Fujinon A, G-Claron, Germinar W and Apo Gerogon are all available as 9/240, are 6-element process plasmats and all are "APO" to the same extent (significant reduction of secondary spectrum) , because initially they were made for very similar intended uses.

While the first three fit direct into standard shutters, the Apo Gerogons (most of them) do not. The big difference vs the 9/240 Apo Ronar (or Apo nikkor, Artar) is the much bigger image circle. The 6-element process plasmats can be used for 8x10, while the Apo Ronar reliable only covers 4x5. As for sharpness when stopped down they are all equivalent.

My preferred candidate is the Germinar W, multicoated.

Best

Joerg

Kelly,

sorry my fault, by FIT INTO A SHUTTER, I understood that you can SCREW the cells into the shutter without any further machining etc. i.e. just manually within a few seconds. None of the repro versions of the Apo Ronar's fit this way into standard shutters, BUT with some proper machining you can make them fit, through the services of S.K. Grimes or equivalent people. This with some more or less efforts can be done with most of the Apo Ronars, that includes the 9/800. You may have to check whether the spacing of the cells is big enough for the intended shutter.

The Apo Germinar 9/750 is BASICALLY the same design as the 9/800's Apo Ronars, except that the Apo Germinar (an outstanding lens) is a 6-element ALL-AIR SPACED design while the 9/800 Apo Ronar, also a 6-element design (whichever version, they differ only by whether elements 1+2 or 2+3 on each side are cemented) has cemented elements.

My previous note (somewhere above) agrees that there was a 16/1000 Apo Ronar in a COMPUR ELECTRONIC 5 FS shutter. You could have all the other Apo Ronars you mention as well in this shutter (480/600/1000). This shutter is well-built, mechanically strong, and does have large threads on both sides (85mm), therefore is a good candidate to mount large cells on both sides or to front mount.

Times are from 1/60 to 32 seconds.

Best

Joerg

Kelly,

the Apo Ronar 9/800 does NOT fit into any standard shutter up to #5.

The in '71 offered Apo Ronar 16/1000 in a Compur Electronic 5 FS was still the FAMOUS 8-element version. Dr. Naumann (for his biography see Kingslake's book) wrote an article on this superlens back in the early seventies if I remember.

Best

Joerg

Hi,

Arne just to pick up what you just referred to: there is a simple test for mechanical stress/distortion. You just take two linear crossed polarizers, one each on both sides of the lens in question. If there is stress, then you may see light shining through the lens.

Smooth heating and a bit of tapping sometimes may help then.

Best

Joerg

Hi again,

as I said in an earlier message in this thread, there are four element and 6-element Apo Ronar's. The 9/600's are all four element. The 6-element is an F=11/600 lens (CL version only). The four element 9/600 Apo Ronarr CL weighs 1561 grams, while the 11/600 6-element weighs 1547 grams.

All process Apo Ronar's were single-coated, employing a few layers of Magnesiumfluoride I assume. Only a few of the 16/1000 mm Apo Ronar's (all 16/1000 are 6-element or if older version are 8-element) were also offered multi-coated (as guessed by the multi-colour reflections). These latter one's were about twice the price of the equivalent focal length 4-element versions, and these were not dirt cheap. The 6-element versions were offered for extra critical jobs.

As for infinity performance, Rodenstock says in one of their brochures that the long focal lengths Apo Ronar's are hard to beat by tele designs. I recently took a few shots in the 750 - 1200 range, Apo Ronar's and others vs Nikkor T-ED (a very good tele-design), and by just having a qualitative look at the negatives, the repro lenses are equivalent (resolution) and certainly give a much wider image circle in these long focal lengths.

BTW, this may not belong into this group, the Apo Ronar's are superb long lenses if you have a MF camera with focal plane shutter, bellows (as the Rollei SL 66) .. all you need to make is an adapter and a tube with internal baffles to maintain high contrast.

Best

Joerg

Kevin,

your Apo Ronar S 9/800 is definitely a six-element four-cell design,

therefore different from the late 6-element all-air spaced Apo Ronars (600/1000/1200), and may be also different from the standard 9/800 they made. It may be a somewhat older version, literature at least describes such a design. "Klimsch" was the leading repro-supplier in Europe, shut down ten to fifteen years ago.

Hope this helps a bit.

Best regards

Joerg

Hi Arne,

I tried to see you at Freiberg yesterday, you were on a business trip.

Will come back top you with info on the "Germinar W" line.

Best

Joerg

Hi,

my Apo Germinar 9/600 (6-element/aluminum) weighs 1900 grams and the Apo Ronar CL 9/600 (4-element/aluminum) has 1560 grams.

Best

Joerg

Hi again,

you can take the Apo Germinar 9/600 apart from the rear cell, loosen the rear screws, and slide away the rear element and thus clean from any haze or dust between the cells. When putting back make sure you set into the same orientation.

The Apo Ronars were made as four element dialyte (Artar type) lenses from 150mm through 1200 mm. As of 600 mm through 1200mm the Apo Ronars were as well offered as 6-element all-air-spaced versions. These were made for the most demanding jobs, and prices were accordingly. The 9/800 is of an older, also 6-element design.

There were 3 barrel versions: one with non-linear f-stop scale, one with linear scale (e.g. Apo Ronar 9/600 L) and then the CL-versions.

Interestingly the 6-element all-air-spaced versions of the Apo Germinars and the Apo Ronars are very similar in design.

Just to complete this: There were also 8-element Apo Ronars e.g. Apo Ronar 16/1000.

Al above lenses were made to very tight tolerances, and are able to offer very acceptable infinity performance when stopped down a bit.

Best

Joerg

Hi,

as said before, the 6-element is all-air spaced, there is no cement. The elns is as well coated, and shooting the Apo Ronar and the Apo Germinar side by side you may recognize that the Apo Germinar is very, very good. There were two versions though, one all-brass and HEAVY and the last one with aluminum body, thus lighter.

There also was a special Apo Germinar S 9/600, very rare 6-element four cell multi-coated version.

Best

Joerg

Bob,

as for the repro process lenses listed, the G-Clarons do screw directly into the #1,2 and #3 shutters, while the process Apo Ronar's do not. The Apo Ronar's that fit were specifically made for shutters, and were not intended for repro work (with optical design identical).

Greetings

Joerg