Welcome to Delta

In 2021 the Digital Enlarger Lens Test Archive (D.E.L.T.A) outgrew its original home at 16-9.net – and its remit. It continues to expand, and is now the most wide-ranging resource for film-makers and photographers seeking and using enlarger, projector, macro, repro, process and cine lenses to create digital work. Spanning more than 170 years, Delta collates information on almost 4,000 universally-adaptable lenses, and contains hundreds of unique reviews and articles.

The quick-browse catalogue below orders every lens by manufacturer and can be filtered by category or keyword.

The primary archive tracks generations of lenses with more in-depth information, and ranks hundreds for sharpness and rendition. Please use the main menu and search function to access further articles, pictures and videos.

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F. Faliez 115mm Projection Lens

F. Faliez Siamor (Series 2) 115/2.0
Brass-bodied 35mm Petzval projector lens marked ‘F. Faliez FI Foyer 115mm’. Made in Paris. Photo courtesy iplaylens >

F. Faliez L'Aubert Edition cinema 140mm f2 projection lens

F. Faliez Siamor (Series 2) 140/2.0
Brass-bodied 35mm Petzval projector lens. Series II ‘Special L’Aubert’ Edition. Made in Paris. Marked ‘OBJECTIF CINEMA SIAMOR’. Images by RetroFocale >

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Federal Anastigmat 140/4.5
American enlarger lens marked 5.5” fitted to Federal 450.

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Federal Anastigmat 90/4.5
American enlarger lens marked 3.5”

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Federal Decar Anastigmat 50/4.5
American enlarger lens marked 2”, fitted to Federal 135 Store-Away Miniature.

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Federal Decar Anastigmat 55/4.5
American enlarger lens fitted to Federal Model 290.

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Federal Decar Anastigmat 90/4.5
American enlarger lens marked 3.5”, fitted to Federal Model 290 and 135 Store-Away Miniature.

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Federal Decar Anastigmat 90/6.3
American enlarger lens marked 3.5”, fitted to Federal Model 290 and 135 Store-Away Miniature.

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Federal Octar Anastigmat 135/4.5
American enlarger lens.

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Federal Octar Anastigmat 90/4.5
American lens marked 3.5″, fitted to Store-Away Senior 311 enlarger.

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Feinmess Pronar 85/2.8
Fitted to Pentacon Hobby slide projector.

Filmosto 10cm f4.0 Periskop-typ

Filmosto [Primascop] 100/4
Slide projector lens with white plastic fascia fitted to Filmosto Primascop. Entry-level ‘Periskop-typ’ inferior to the Filmostar-branded metal f3.5 version.

Filmosto Filmostar 10cm f3.5

Filmosto Filmostar 100/3.5
Slide projector lens with white plastic fascia fitted to Filmosto Primascop. Appears to be more similar to the entry-level f4 ‘Periskop-typ’ than the Filmostar-branded metal f3.5.

Filmosto Filmostar 10cm f3.5

Filmosto Filmostar 100/3.5 [V2]
Slide projector lens with silver metal fascia fitted to Filmosto Primascop. Upgraded version of the entry-level ‘Periskop-typ’ f4.0

Filmosto Filmostar 10cm f3.5

Filmosto Filmostar III 100/3.5
Metal projector lens marked ‘f=10cm Filmosto Projektion Dresden’.

Filmosto Filmostar III 10cm f4.0

Filmosto Filmostar III 100/4
Brass-body lens marked ‘f=10cm Filmosto Projektion Dresden’ fitted to Filmosto Color-Box slide projector.

Filmosto Filmostar III 7.5cm f3.5 projector lens

Filmosto Filmostar III 75/3.5
Brass-body projector lens marked ‘f=7.5cm Filmosto Projektion Dresden’.

Filmosto Filmostar IV 100mm f3.0

Filmosto Filmostar IV 100/3
Metal-body slide projector lens marked ‘f=10cm Filmosto Projektion Dresden’.

Filmosto Projektion Filmostar IV 8cm f2.8

Filmosto Filmostar IV 80/2.8 [V1]
Metal barrel projector lens with black fascia marked ‘Filmosto Projektion Dresden’.

Filmosto Projektion Filmostar IV 8cm f2.8

Filmosto Filmostar IV 80/2.8 [V2]
Brass barrel projector lens with black fascia marked ‘Filmosto Projektion Dresden’.

firstcall_50_4.5

FirstCall 50/4.5
Chinese-made entry-level enlarger lens imported by, and branded, FirstCall. AKA VTEC, Andere.

firstcall-75-a

FirstCall 75/3.5
Chinese-made entry-level enlarger lens imported by, and branded, FirstCall. Some versions unbranded (eg, sold by Amazon). Known in Australia as VTEC.

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Fluro Ektar 52/1.5
Projector lens

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Foca Autoplar 50/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Fortuna Anastigmat 75/3.5
Silver body enlarger lens (similar to Componon V1)

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Franke & Heidecke Heidosmat 150/2.8
Projector lens made by Isco for 74mm tube fitted to Rollei P11. AKA Rollei Heidosmat.

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Franke & Heidecke Heidosmat 400/4
Medium format projector lens made by Isco fitted to Rollei P11. AKA Rollei Heidosmat

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Friedrich Axinon 100/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Axinon 105/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Axinon 115/4.5
Enlarger lens. Image circle: 30mm.

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Friedrich Axinon 125/4.5
Enlarger lens.

friedrich-munchen-axinon-13.5cm-1b

Friedrich Axinon 135/4.5 [V1]
Tessar enlarger lens made in Münich by C. Friedrich marked ‘HC [?] Friedrich München lx-AXINON’.

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Friedrich Axinon 135/4.5 [V2]
Tessar enlarger lens made in Münich by C. Friedrich marked ‘HC [?] Friedrich München’.

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Friedrich Axinon 162/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Axinon 190/4.5
Fixed aperture enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Axinon 210/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Axinon 45/4.5 [V1]
Variable aperture enlarger lens marked Friedrich München (made in Münich, Germany).

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Friedrich Axinon 45/4.5 [V2]
Fixed aperture enlarger lens marked Friedrich München (made in Münich, Germany).

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Friedrich Axinon 50/4.5
Enlarger lens.

Friedrich-axinon-55-4.5a2

Friedrich Axinon 55/4.5
Enlarger lens made in Münich by C. Friedrich marked ‘Friedrich München lx-AXINON’.

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Friedrich Axinon 60/4.5
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Axinon 72.2/4.5
Enlarger lens marked Friedrich München (made in Münich, Germany).

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Friedrich Axinon 75/4.5
Enlarger lens marked Friedrich München (made in Münich, Germany).

Friedrich-axinon-90a-1

Friedrich Axinon 90/4.5
Enlarger lens made by C. Friedrich marked ‘Friedrich München’ (made in Münich, West Germany).

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Friedrich Axinon 90/4.5 [V3]
Fixed aperture enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Axinon WA 35/2.8
Wide angle enlarger lens.

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freidrich-munchen-coronar-135c

Friedrich Coronar 135/4.5
German enlarger lens with zebra aperture ring.

Friedrich München Coronar 163 mm f/4.7

Friedrich Coronar 163/4.7
Enlarger lens with zebra aperture ring marked ‘Freidrich München’. Classified “D” Coronar by the distributor.

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Friedrich Coronar D 210/4.5
German enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Coronar D 210/4.5 [Fixed]
German enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Coronar D 360/4.5
German enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Coronar D 360/6.3
German enlarger lens marked Friedrich München.

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Friedrich Coronar-EK 70/4.5
Enlarger lens marked ‘Freidrich München’.

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Friedrich Coronar-EK 85/4.5
Enlarger lens marked ‘Freidrich München’.

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Friedrich Corygon 105/3.8
German enlarger lens, also seen as a large format taking lens. Serial 14937?

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Friedrich Corygon 170/6.3
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 210/6.8
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 35/2.8
Enlarger lens. Image circle: 30mm.

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Friedrich Corygon 40/2.8 [V1]
Fixed aperture German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 50/2.8
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 50/4.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 50/8
Fixed aperture German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 57/4.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 60/2.8
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 60/3.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 65/4.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 75/2.8
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 75/4.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 80/2.8
Enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 80/3.5
German enlarger lens.

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Friedrich Corygon 80/4
German enlarger lens optionally fitted to Primos enlarger in 1962.

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Friedrich S-Coronar 20/1.4
Enlarger lens. Sub 35-mm image circle.

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Friedrich S-Coronar 25.5/1.9
Enlarger lens. Sub 35-mm image circle.

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Friedrich S-Coronar 25/1.4
Enlarger lens. Sub 35-mm image circle.

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Friedrich S-Coronar 35/1.4
Enlarger lens. Sub 35-mm image circle.

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Friedrich S-Coronar 35/2.8
Enlarger lens. Image circle: 30mm.

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friedrich-s-coronar-75c

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fuji-e-rectar-50a

Fuji E-Rectar 50/3.5
Japanese enlarger lens. All silver body with black fascia marked “Fuji Photo Film Co f=5cm”. Precursor, and closely related to, Fujinar-E 50/4.5. Image by Shisan12.

fuji-e-rectar-75-a

Fuji E-Rectar 75/3.5
Japanese enlarger lens. All silver body with black fascia marked “Fuji Photo Film Co . . .  f=7.5cm”.

fuji_e-rectar-90-4.5-a

Fuji E-Rectar 90/4.5
Japanese enlarger lens. All silver body with black fascia marked “Fuji Photo Film Co . . .  f=9cm”.

fuji-lucky-75a

Fuji Lucky 75/3.5
Japanese enlarger lens. All silver body with black fascia marked “Fuji Photo Film Co f=7.5cm”. Not necessarily related to the Fujimoto Lucky and E-Lucky range. Product image by Shisan12.

fuji-p-acular-100a

Fuji P-Acular 100/3
Projector lens fitted to Birdie 3.

fujimoto-38-a

Fujimoto 38/2.8
Japanese enlarger lens. Image circle: 43mm.

fujimoto-50-v1-a

Fujimoto 50/2.8 [V1]
Japanese enlarger lens AKA Jessop, Spiratone, Vivitar marked ‘6 ELEMENTS’. Black body, silver mount.

fujimoto-50-v2-a

Fujimoto 50/2.8 [V2]
Japanese enlarger lens AKA Jessop, Spiratone, Vivitar
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Acknowledgements: The DELTA project wouldn’t have been possible with the naysaying of experienced lens collectors; the death of film; the opposition of my wife; the embezzlement of shady eBay sellers and Japanese auction agents; the re-branders; the same 50/3.5 seen in a thousand guises; the unhelpful attitide of extant manufacturers who jettisoned their history without a backward glance (Schneider, Rodenstock et al); the corporations who swallow the legacies of decades without concern for their preservation; the disregard of librarians and archivists who no longer value photographic publications; the copyright laws prohibiting reproduction of adverts advertising things no longer made, once made by people and companies that no longer exist; the museums failing to digitise their collections and refusing to grant access to material rotting unseen in their basements; the sheer bloody-mindedness of Agfa serial numbers; the arrogance of those who have previously written about alt.lenses and imagine their sayings to be unalterably definitive, despite being patently erroneous;  widespread dementia and death befalling a generation of those with inside knowledge of the industry; widespread withering of the information internet and the rise of regurgitated AI gobbledygook; the majority of used camera dealers who regard these lenses as pointless relics and have no interest in deploying them as taking lenses and regard their slow-moving stock as an irritation; clueless marketing people devoid of specific product knowledge; an overwhelming majority of photographers apathetic about the benefits and possibilities of alt.lenses; the publishers who failed to express an interest in a book deal; the army of DIY botchers who took their lenses apart and didn’t know how to put them back together again; a postal system that loses packages as a normal happenstance;  and all the fungus. Against this tide stand we few. You know who you are. Thank you.