Given the rarity of short focal length lenses for enlargers, has anyone tried scavenging a lens from a trashed Minox and mounting it in an enlarger to use for printing?

-- John Sonewald (jsonewald@aol.com), December 12, 1999

Answers

K. Dauer's thread "Source for enlarging lens" provided a valuable experience (the first in submini news groups ) of using microfiche reader lens He used an Olympus microfiche lens.

A non working Minox with good lens is usually repairable. Nonetheless it is a good idea to try to take the lens out and mount it as enlarging lens. I have a dead Rollei 110, I was planing to dig out the lens and use it as 8x11mm enlarging lens, but never get to really do it.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 13, 1999.

In general this might be a resonable way to get a short focal lenght lens, but: 1. I agree with Martin: it is better to repair the minox 2. If you would pull out the lens from the camera, there would be no mechanism to focus anymore 3. The enlarger for this need a special construction to bring the lens as close as 15 mm to the negative. The most enlargers do not allow this. 4. If one would do this anyway: The lenses from the models II, III, IIIs and B are not useable, because they need a curved negative holder.

From my experience, the very best solution is a minox enlarger, the second best solution a 35 mm enlarger with a 28mm (or such) lens.

-- Oliver (pyper@fks.chem.tu-berlin.de), January 04, 2000.

This isn't my idea, (I saw it on www.subclub.org) but I have been using an 18mm interchangeable lens from a Pentax 110 SLR. These lenses are not as hard to come by as you might think, and once "bodged" onto your standard 35 MM enlarger give really good results. I paid £20 (UK pounds) for mine, and have never looked back.

-- Fred Russell (fredrussell@hotmail.com), July 12, 2001.