benefits/drawbacks of tele lenses

[138S]

View camera allow plane of focus tilts and shifts, which open up all kinds of possibilities for longer lenses. I shot everything long-lens for about a decade before I ever even purchased a wide angle lens, and that was mainly for architectural use. And certainly nobody can accuse me of making unsharp prints. Wider lenses are only one way to manage depth of field issues. Don't strategically limit your tool kit.

Yes... but in this case I was mentioning Depth related to the spatial depiction/sense of an image, rather than DOF. The way we use perspective...

 

[Nokton48]

Norma Rodenstock Apo-Ronar collection by Nokton48, on Flickr

Apo-Ronars are great on the Normas for 2x2 to 8x10 tele-photography. But I wouldn't go mountain climbing with them
Also (bottom left) is my 59cm Zeiss Apo Planar.

 

[abruzzi]

Upon due consideration, I think before I go with a 300mm tele, I'm going to try a 250mm normal lens. I'm looking at the Fujinon W 250mm f6.3. They are surprisingly cheap, unless I limit myself to the last, CM version, and even those aren't too expensive. I know there are 5.6s in similar focal lengths, but I'd like to avoid Copal 3 shutters (or any other shutters with a slow top speed) if possible.

 

[138S]

Upon due consideration, I think before I go with a 300mm tele, I'm going to try a 250mm normal lens. I'm looking at the Fujinon W 250mm f6.3. They are surprisingly cheap, unless I limit myself to the last, CM version, and even those aren't too expensive. I know there are 5.6s in similar focal lengths,

You always can crop a bit to get with the 250 the same framing/perspective than with the 300, with a sharp film and that fine lens you may not notice any image quality degradation, still cropping or not cropping can be a religion matter.

but I'd like to avoid Copal 3 shutters (or any other shutters with a slow top speed) if possible.

It's always nice to avoid large shutters, but "top speed" it's usually not used, and better if avoided because it's usually less exact, if not using a shutter tester to know how it works.

 

[138S]

PD: One of the Tele-Xenars is not a tele design, Apo-Tele-Xenar Compact 350mm f/11 is a Dialyte.

 

[Neil Poulsen]

The nice thing about the Nikon 360mm tele, is it's lighter-weight Copal 1 shutter. 360mm non-tele lenses almost invariably have Copal 3 shutters and can be very heavy. (Even a 355mm G-Claron weighs a little more than the Nikon.) Moreover, a tele's shorter flange focal length might to help reduce vibrations.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Well, there is an even better alternative to the 355 GC which is in a lightwt no.1 shutter - the Fuji 360 A. One of my favorite lenses for both 8X10 and 4x5. But they can be hard to find.