This is the first in what I intend to be a short series on lenses I frequently use and value. Not sure if these comments will interest anyone here, in which case I will not post more and instead just collect my information as part of my own free e-books. I start with the El Nikkor 105mm APO f/5.6.
The El Nikkor 105mm APO (not the same as the standard El Nikkor 105mm) is a very special and useful lens for my close-up work. It is also incredibly expensive and often hard to find. IMO, it is well worth the trouble and money considering what it does.
The “EL” in El Nikkor means “Enlarging,” which is what this lens was designed for back in the 1960s. It is a favorite lens of the enlarger-lens crowd, if not “The” favorite. A second group that are into this lens are the coin-imagining folks, who also value this lens a lot, but point out it is way too expensive for most of the coin collectors, which leaves the photographers. I, for one, love it and find it invaluable for my work.
There are two versions of this APO lens and I am told these two APO versions represent a short production run. Both versions were manufactured in Japan. The earlier version, which I do not have, has a high f/stop of f/45, while my version stops at f/32. I never use the higher f/stops anyway. The lens has an aperture ring, but no focus ring. The lens mount (rear) is M39, so an M39 to Nikon F-Mount works fine. This lens is sharpest wide open, for which it was designed for, at f/5.6, but holds the sharpness for a couple stops.
Although the lens is very sharp, it is slightly sharper in the center, than in the corners. The lens can be reversed for magnification greater than 1:1, which I never have tried. I use it only for close-up work, not macro, in the standard orientation. I mentioned earlier: do not confuse the APO version with the non-APO version. They are not similar in quality as to correction.
Unlike many enlarging lens that I use, the El Nikkor 105mm APO (on the Nikon PB-04 Bellows) covers a wider range of focus distance than many other industrial lenses I have, so it is good very close-up as well as quite far back. This alone makes it very, very useful.
In my work, I use it on the Nikon PB-4 Bellows, currently with the Nikon D810 and a short extension ring (PK-12 = 14mm) to mount the D810 on the rear of the Bellows so that it clears the rail. I also use it on the Rollei X-Act 2 Bellows technical camera. I can use it directly on my Nikon D810, using a narrow helicoid as extension and focus ring. This works well, but in a more limited way than on the bellows.
The color and contrast is good, with no decentering, and the lens is very sharp. Also, it has its own character, which is especially useful in photographing very detailed objects. In my work, this lens can produce an almost 3D sense to a photo.
Of course, this is not a walk-around lens or a general-purpose lens. It is a specialized lens, but one I find myself using more and more often, although mostly in the studio. On clear, windless days, taking this lens outdoors on the Nikon PB-4 is not a problem, but it is not something I would backpack, etc. Mounted, using a short helicoid, also makes field work with the lens very possible.
This is not a copy lens, not something I would use for forensic or reproduction work. It is a slow lens, but one with loads of character. I consider it one of the more wonderful and most valuable lenses that I have ever used.
Lens Type: Enlarging
Produced: 1960s
Price 2016: $3000
Lens Mount: M39
Front Lens Cap: Mine came with a solid-metal screw-off lens cap, which I have replaced with a 43mm>52mm step-up ring, where I then have a 52>77m step-up ring to hold filters at 77mm.
Focal Length: 104.3 mm
Blades: 8
Nikon describes this lens as follows:
“The Apo-EL-Nikkor series of lenses are true Apochromat photo-enlarging lenses with chromatic aberration corrected not only for the entire visible range of the spectrum, but also in near ultraviolet and near infrared ranges (380-700 nm). They are all 8-element, 4-group designs with maximum-minimum aperture of f/5.6-45 or f/5.6-32.”
Note: All of my most used “stylistic” lenses have step-up rings to bring the lens to 77mm, so that I can use the same circular polarizer or ND filter. That is what you see in the photos of my equipment.
Sample photo taken with the El Nikkor 105mm APO
