EL-Nikkor 210mm f/5.6

[Gamma]

I brought an EL-Nikkor 210mm f/5.6. I did some tests outside to see how much UV gets through it, because I am wondering how worthwhile it is to buy adapters to mount it.

I used a S8612 2mm, U-360 2mm with a Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM.

 

The sky is in the background,

 

The next pictures show the lens next to a 135mm El-Nikkor.

[ulf]

You get very little information about the UV-transmission by using the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM.

The Canon lens has a very limited UV range.

 

A better alternative would be to use a pinhole for this kinds of comparisons, but then you really long exposure times and fuzzy images.

[Stefano]

Image quality is not really important here, what matters is the amount of color the lens has. But I agree with Ulf that the Canon 40 mm f/2.8 STM is not the best lens for this test as you are seeing only in the upper 360-400 nm UV.

 

If you have a diffraction grating you could try to see if you can see UV-green, which is at around 340 nm. That's not very precise but can give a hint.

[ulf]

The cheap grating foils also has a lower limit to their transmission:

https://www.ultravio...dpost__p__19967

[Stefano]

Thanks Ulf. I have those gratings (at least, they look the same) and they block UVC from my LEDs. I remember seeing those graphs somewhere.

 

They seem to cover the UV range from sunlight, that is limited to about 300 nm. So 340 nm should be doable just fine if the lens allows it (I am sure the camera also can see 340 nm no problem).

[Gamma]

I haven't tried a diffraction grating yet.
I did order some parts to attach to the lens.

 

I did some tests with the lens this past week, but the images it made, look a bit washed out.

El-Nikkor 210mm

 

El-Nikkor 80mm (metal version)

 

 

I went to the Botanic Gardens to test the lenses, a drama happened that temporarily halted testing of the lenses.
While wondering about how the self-timer could be accessed in the camera.
I noticed a man selecting and taking items from amongst things, that a group of females had put on the grass.
One of the females had stayed behind to mind the items, she got up and gave chase after the male who ran away with two others.
She didn't retrieve the items.

 

 

 

[Andy Perrin]

Wow, drama! You should probably give the photos to the police or something?

--

 

While the EL-Nikkor 210mm pic seems cloudy, I notice you didn't have a hood on it, so before drawing conclusions, I recommend retesting with a good lens hood on there.

[nfoto]

It's also worth keeping in mind these enlarger lenses never were designed to cope with daylight and sunshine .... The lens "assumes" light is traveling through it from the rear, passing through the negative,  to reach the "subject" (=photographic paper). We turn literally everything upside down for these poor optics.

[ulf]

It also looks like you have reversed the lens.

Optically the lens is designed to have the smallest image/object at the rear of the lens. I am talking about the film or sensor.

Reversing a lens is recommended for macro/micro imaging with an image magnification >1.

 

Birna's comment above is correct regarding internal reflections of unwanted light that in the original application as an enlarger lens was not present.

Andy's advice of adding a lens hood is good and the 210mm FL permits a really long hood.

For a simple temporary test a paper tube can be used for finding out how big the hood can be. 

[Doppler9000]

I would also consider flocking the tubes, etc.  The lens is designed for 5x7”, so is generating a lot of stray energy.

[Doug A]

Very interesting info, @Gamma. I looked at buying one of these before the Meyer Telemegor 180. Then I found out it had a huge mounting thread, 72mm or so. It would take some major research to get the correct parts. You have done well and I look forward to seeing your images.

 

I have the chrome EL-Nikkor 135 and have problems with contrast. The long helicoid is the worst - unusable. A short helicoid with multiple Pentax OEM extension tubes is considerably better. The Pentax tubes have flocking and baffles inside. Placing the lens inside a Pentax bellows is a little better.

 

Besides the already recommended long lens hood and flocking you might try cutting a rectangular baffle out of black paper and inserting it in one of the tubes. There's a lot of light bouncing around inside your rig. UV is tough.

 

Looking forward to more and thanks for sharing,

Doug A