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Linhof lenses?

gazwas

Active member
I have just purchsed a used but like new Rodenstock 90mm Apo-Sironar Digital lens that I found for an excellent price which I believe to be the same lens as the current 90mm Digiron HR-W. First impressions with very limited testing tonight under poor tungsten lighting is that the lens is very sharp with lots of IC. More testing tomorrow in daylight will hopefully bring even better results.

I noticed that the lens has the Linhof name printed on the lens barrel and wondered what this means. I could only find reference to Linhof Select lenses on the internet but it only has the Linhof printed on this lens and was wondering if anyone here could fill me in. I couldn't even see lenses on Linhof's site.
 

yaya

Active member
Linhof at some point (it was short) were using re-branded Rodenstock lenses. I think the 90mm (and the 180mm) were mostly sold bundled with the Anagram scanning backs

It's similar to what Sinar still do with the Sinaron lenses which are also re-branded Rodenstocks

The 90mm is my go-to lenses whenever I need to show what the Aptus-II 12 can REALLY do BTW :)

If you speak to Paula at Linhof-Studio she'll be able to give you the full rundown, probably down to the day and date it was manufactured!!!

Enjoy!
 

carstenw

Active member
Linhof also did this with Schneiders; I have such a 90mm. There is a rumour that these lenses underwent another quality check, so they might be better than the standard lenses. I don't know if there is any truth to this. I know that they regularly bring higher prices.
 

gazwas

Active member
Linhof also did this with Schneiders; I have such a 90mm. There is a rumour that these lenses underwent another quality check, so they might be better than the standard lenses. I don't know if there is any truth to this. I know that they regularly bring higher prices.
That is what I had read but was unsure what extra testing could do to improve the lens. Was it just to select the cream of the crop?

Thanks for the explanation Yair. I might just do as you say and contact Paula to see what info she can give me about the lens.

I just need the RS 70 now to sit between my SK 43 and RS 90. :)
 

carstenw

Active member
Some people believe that Linhof and Sinar got to pick the cream of the crop. I doubt that very much, but subjecting the lenses to another series of tests and returning/exchanging the bad ones, would certainly bring down the copy variation, which is something I can believe.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
I have a few Carl Zeiss lenses that sport a Linhof engraving in red. There is also an adapter- Copal 1 (40mm) to RMS that might have been originally used with a Zeiss or Leitz macro lens that has this engraving.

It was my understanding that these ones with the extra engravings were originally used with Linhof camera equipments.
 

baxter

New member
I was lead to believe that Linhof engraving can mean that the lens was used with a Master Technika and that a focussing cam was manufactured for use on that camera. The QC stories imply that Schneider's own QC standards aren't that stringent. All of their lenses which I've owned have been superb, several were sharper than the one lens I had with Linhof engraving.
 

vieri

Well-known member
Some people believe that Linhof and Sinar got to pick the cream of the crop. I doubt that very much, but subjecting the lenses to another series of tests and returning/exchanging the bad ones, would certainly bring down the copy variation, which is something I can believe.
I was lead to believe that Linhof engraving can mean that the lens was used with a Master Technika and that a focussing cam was manufactured for use on that camera. The QC stories imply that Schneider's own QC standards aren't that stringent. All of their lenses which I've owned have been superb, several were sharper than the one lens I had with Linhof engraving.
I can add my personal experience to this - I just bought a Rodenstock 35 mm lens for my Techno from Linhof; the lens is NOT branded Linhof, however my distributor here had to postpone the delivery date one month because the first sample Rodenstock sent to Linhof had been rejected due to (from he original Linhof message): "Unfortunately we instantly have to inform you that the delivered Rodenstock lens (# xxxxxx) has failed our Linhof quality control. We have to exchange to a new one from Rodenstock, which means possibly a delivery delay. Please inform us how you would like to proceed. We need a confirmation of new time of arrival and delivery address."

So, the QC thing is definitely not a rumor or a myth, at least in this one case. This happened just in October this year. The lens which had been actually delivered is, by the way, superb. :D
 

carstenw

Active member
I was lead to believe that Linhof engraving can mean that the lens was used with a Master Technika and that a focussing cam was manufactured for use on that camera. The QC stories imply that Schneider's own QC standards aren't that stringent. All of their lenses which I've owned have been superb, several were sharper than the one lens I had with Linhof engraving.
Having a Linhof lens of course guarantees nothing, especially if it is older and has seen years of use. If a lens can slip through one quality control and still not be right, it can also slip through two, and it looks like that must have happened to you. Statistically though, the failure rate ought to be lower of having additional quality control.
 

SergeiR

New member
Those are linhof selects. They did and still do run special limited batches with extra qa. Those typically would have better than average optics quality and cost more.
 

yaya

Active member
AFAIK if you buy a Rodenstock or a Schnieder lens from e.g. ALPA, Arca-Swiss, Cambo or Linhof it gets tested by them after receiving it from the manufacturer. All of them use digital backs for these tests
 
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