Agfa Magnolar 60/4.5 [V1]

Reviews

1. 

   16:9 – April 6, 2022

   Given that this was Agfa’s bottom-of-the-pile lens, fitted to entry-level spec enlargers in the 1950s (pre-1961, at least), and this is the lightly-regarded first generation, four-element Magnolar – not one of the exotic Heliar Magnolars – and it doesn’t even say ‘Color’ on it, I had no great hopes for this tiny optic. It even looks like a generic triplet enlarger lens. But it isn’t a triplet, it’s a Tessar, and it lives up to the reputation of some other fine little Tessars – scoring over 85% for near-field sharpnesss on the f5.6-f8 average. Though it doesn’t reach a mark of 9.0, between f5.6 and f8 it’s very close in Zone 1, and consistency of rendering across the Zones is genuinely impressive: the far corners of a full frame (Zone 3) are never more than 0.3 marks behind the centre. All parts of the image circle are useable at all apertures – the nadir is a respectable 8.1 wide open in the extreme corner.