The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Kodak Ekton f4,5 52mm Color Printing lens

Stefan Steib

Active member
I recently bought a bunch of old lab lenses from a supplier on Ebay.
One of the lenses in the batch was a Kodak Ekton f4,5 52mm Color Printing lens -short conj(unction?) - there is a "teleconverter" lens fixed to the front tube of the lens (with 3 small allen screws -like a cap going over the lens) which is enlarging by a factor of estimated 1,2-1,3 x.
The lens is with a fixed aperture of 4,5 and can be focused only by a long thread in a supplied lens holder. The weight is nearly a kg it´s made beautifully of massive brass and steel- I think it is either a 5 or more likely a 6 lens design.
I guess(and was also told so) it was used in a machine printer for color prints of an Agfa or Gretag machine, but searching the Internet did not get any results.If someone is interested I can also do a photo/s.

Does anyone have some more info on this lens(es), maybe some old Koday spec from an ancient catalogue ? from the font on the front tube I would guess it is pretty old at least over 30-40 years. It looks like a very high quality lens, I am just trying to decide what to do with it.

TIA
Stefan
 
Last edited:
V

Vivek

Guest
Stefan, Post some pictures, along with the approximate image circle measure projected at infinity.

"Tubus" and "inbus" are not English words, so it is difficult to follow your description.

It is unlikely to be from an Agfa machine. Most Agfa machines used German lenses.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
Hi Vivek

the problem is I do not have an according mount, I tried to match it with some white paper and hama gum- the result is about max40mm image circle at infinity, seems to be a real (no retrofocus) lens, the back flange distance from lens to Chip/film is only about 1cm. This means the lens is only usable in a very special setup whereas I suspect it could be well worth doing so. especially for macro.
Here are some images.
http://forum.getdpi.com/gallery/files/5/4/8/3/_mg_1177.jpg
http://forum.getdpi.com/gallery/files/5/4/8/3/_mg_1168.jpg
http://forum.getdpi.com/gallery/files/5/4/8/3/_mg_1181.jpg

regards
Stefan
 
Last edited:
V

Vivek

Guest
Hi Stefan,

No doubt an intriguing lens. I have dozens of such lenses from Voigtlander, Friederich Muenchen, Fuji, Agfa, you name it. The amount of time, money and effort to make such lenses useful is often not really worth their weight.

If you are keen on macro work, here is my suggestion based on actual experience:

Buy the Leitz Summars ("Macro Summars") with the proper adapters. While the 24, 35 and 42 all have regular RMS fit, the longer ones have odd sizes (hence the need to buy them with the adapters). All are only f/4.5 but have beautiful iris (near circular) built in.

These compare favorably with Zeiss Luminars and do not cost as much (especially in Europe, if you look around) or the fabulous Macro Nikkors.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
If I deduct the average price of the batch/per lens then this was less than 10 €,I just was curious, because it looks really interesting and very high quality (especially if you look into the lens groups).
Right now I could buy another batch of 300mm and up/longer Agfa lab lenses (2-3 kg each !) for something similar, lets see if the space defending realist can defeat the gear collector in me...... :)

Regards
Stefan
 
V

Vivek

Guest
If you swing by here, with a truck, let me know. There are alot of
weighty lenses!:D
 
Top