Good cheap LF enlarging lenses?

[mtnjunkie]

Ebay and patience can get you a 135mm enlarging lens for pretty close to dirt cheap. About a month ago I got a el nikkor 135mm in its box and allegedly new, for $55. While I have my doubts about the brand new claim, it is flawless as far as I can see. Stay patient, and don't forget to look for misspellings, and miscategorizations on ebay.
150mm lenses seem to be a bit more still.
Good luck
Mike

[Donald Qualls]

I like Omega enlargers, but I've used a couple of their kit 50mm lenses that were dogs. Even the four element El-Nikkors f/4 are much better.

Maybe I got a good one, but my El Omegar is quite okay at f/8 to f/11. I can print 13x17 mm negatives from my Kiev 303 to 5x7 with it and it stays sharp (that's about 10x, equivalent to 10x15 inches from 35 mm), which is about all I'd normally ask of an enlarging lens (if only because my enlarger's column isn't tall enough, nor baseboard big enough, to go much larger without a bunch of rigamarole). I'd love to have a better lens, but on my budget, if it's good enough, something else needs the money worse.