Rodenstock Rodagon 43mm f/5.6 lens
This 43mm Rodagon lens is in a industrial housing with a pre-set aperture and was available online as new-old-stock for $2.50 each as a 4-pack for $9.99. Although this lens has a different barrel, inside it has the same high-quality 6 element, 4 group design as the consumer market Rodagon lens so the lens was definately worth a look. The attraction of industrial lenses is the professional-grade image quality for a surplus price, or in the case of this 43mm Rodagon, almost nothing.
Most industrial lenses like this use a disk to control aperture instead of an iris. The design of the lens make changing the aperture disk easy, so it should be possible to modify this lens for a faster maximum aperture, remember, a wider aperture = higher potential resolution. Removing the aperture disk from this lens was very easy, but there is a problem, the aperture disk also serves as a retainer ring for a lens group. This makes disk modification necessary, simply popping the disk out won’t work in this case unfortunately.
To gain access the disk, unscrew the front cell, the cell is only finger-tight. You can see the aperture disk/retaining ring is designed to fit a spanner wrench but I found a small metal rule that was a perfect fit. The disk is glued in place so it takes a little bit of force. With the disk/retainer out, I used a new countersink bit to open the aperture from 4.5 to 8mm (the aluminum is very soft so I did the work by hand), then replaced the disk/retainer. With the disk/retainer back in place I replaced the front lens cell.
The disk modification takes the lens from an f/5.4 to f/3.9 and f/3.8 in reverse (f/3.8 was measured with the ID label towards the sensor). Now let's take a look at the most important point of the test, the image quality!
Rodenstock Rodagon 43mm f/5.6 and Schneider Componon-S 135mm f/5.6 stacked for 3.14x
3.14x Test Sample Image at 2500 pixels
For best results the Rodagon was stacked wide-open with the lens ID label facing the sensor. Use a lens snoot over the end of the lens, always flock your extension tubes and adapters for best results to prevent flare.
Front lens: Rodenstock Rodagon 43 lens reverse mounted
Rear lens: Schneider Componon-S 135mm EL lens normally mounted focused at infinity
Stacked lens nominal aperture: f/3.8 with disk removed
Stacked lens effective aperture: f/11.92
Camera: Sony α6300, model # ILCE-6300, also known as: A6300
Sensor size: APS-C 23.5 × 15.6 mm. 28.21 mm diagonal. 3.92 micron sensor pitch
Flash: Godox TT350s wireless flash x 2 with one Godox X1s 2.4G wireless flash transmitter
Click on the image below to view a larger version in a Lightbox viewer, but the size of the image sent to your device is based on the screen size. To open the image in a new window or tab, right click, or two-finger press, and select Open in a New Tab or New Window from the menu. You can also right click, or two-finger press, and select Save Image As and compare the images in the image viewing app of your choice.
To check the size of the image you are looking at, look up at the URL window at the top of the browser, the address should have 2500w at the end. If the image size is anything smaller you can easily change the number to 2500 manually and press enter to bring up the largest image.
3.14x with Rodenstock Rodagon 43mm f/5.6 and Schneider Componon-S 135mm f/5.6 in a stacked setup.
2.8x Image sample
For best results the Rodagon was stacked wide-open with the lens ID label facing the sensor.
Front lens: Rodenstock Rodagon 43 lens reverse mounted
Rear lens: Schneider Makro-Symmar 5.6/120 line scan lens normally mounted focused at infinity
Stacked lens nominal aperture: f/3.8 with disk removed
Stacked lens effective aperture: f/10.64
Camera: Sony α6300, model # ILCE-6300, also known as: A6300
Sensor size: APS-C 23.5 × 15.6 mm. 28.21 mm diagonal. 3.92 micron sensor pitch
Flash: Godox TT350s wireless flash x 2 with one Godox X1s 2.4G wireless flash transmitter
2.8x with Rodenstock Rodagon 43mm f/5.6 and Schneider Makro-Symmar 5.6/120 in a stacked setup.
2.8x Image sample
For best results the Rodagon was stacked wide-open with the lens ID label facing the sensor.
Front lens: Rodenstock Rodagon 43 lens reverse mounted
Rear lens: Schneider Makro-Symmar 5.6/120 line scan lens normally mounted focused at infinity
Stacked lens nominal aperture: f/3.8 with disk removed
Stacked lens effective aperture: f/10.64
Camera: Sony α6300, model # ILCE-6300, also known as: A6300
Sensor size: APS-C 23.5 × 15.6 mm. 28.21 mm diagonal. 3.92 micron sensor pitch
Flash: Godox TT350s wireless flash x 2 with one Godox X1s 2.4G wireless flash transmitter
2.8x with Rodenstock Rodagon 43mm f/5.6 and Schneider Makro-Symmar 5.6/120 in a stacked setup.
Test results
The Rodagon 43mm might be a little bit of a challenge to mount, I was lucky thankfully, but once that’s done, the lens will perform very well with the modified disk. At f/3.8 the lens is sharp and contrasty with good coverage for APS-C. The Rodagon 43mm earns a recommended rating.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Rodenstock Rodagon 1:5.6 F=43mm
Lens applications: industrial machine vision
Part number: Unknown
Optics: 6 elements 4 groups
Filter threads: none
Mounting threads: none
Aperture: f/5.6 measured as f/5.4 in both forwards and reverse
Tested aperture: f/3.9 forwards, f/3.8 in reverse after disk modification. Reverse is ID label towards the sensor.
Coverage: APS-C
Used market Price: $2.50 for new-old-stock.
RATING
What I Like:
Unbeatable price vs performance
Good image quality
All-metal housing
Good chromatic aberration correction
What I Don’t Like:
No mounting threads or filter threads
Aperture disk is not removable
MOUNTING THE RODAGON 43
Thankfully the 2.45mm OD of the lens barrel fits perfectly inside a M42 x 1mm step-down adapter with a press-fit. It turns out that hundreds of different step-up and step-down adapters in the office is good for something.
OTHER RODENSTOCK LENSES TESTS ON CLOSEUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
This group of industrial lenses that has been available online over the last couple of weeks all perform at a higher level than I expected. In August I spent some considerable time testing a group of 4 and 6 element 50mm enlarging/printing lenses and I don’t even want to waste time taking about the results, soft corners, LaCAs, fuzzy details, it wasn’t pretty but these Rodestock industrial lenses are all good performers. So far I’ve tried the 35, 50, 57, 60 with all good results, the 25 and 30mm lenses still need to be tested.
Rodenstock Ysaron 1:4 f=25: coming soon
Rodenstock Ysaron 1:3.5 f=30: coming soon
Rodenstock Rodagon 4/28: https://www.closeuphotography.com/rodagon-28mm-lens-test
Rodenstock Rogonar-S 8/35: https://www.closeuphotography.com/rogonar-s-35mm-test
Rodenstock Rogonar-S 1:3.5 f=50: https://www.closeuphotography.com/rogonar-s-50-lens-test
Rodenstock Rogonar-S 1:8 f=57 : https://www.closeuphotography.com/rogonar-s-57mm-lens-test
Rodenstock Rodagon 1:8 f=60: https://www.closeuphotography.com/rodagon-60mm-lens-test
Links for more info on the RODENSTOCK industrial lenses:
Rodenstock indus. lenses: Rodagon - Rogonar S - Ysaron Info:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40502
$5 Rodenstock Rogonar-S 50 vs APO-Rodagon-N 50 Test Results:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40509
$2.50 Rogonar-S v $250 APO-Rodagon-D v $1K Canon MPE Test:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40477
Sharp Rodenstock 57mm Lens For $2.50 - Too Good to be True?:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40472