"Best" 150mm for 4x5, any suggestions?

[roteague]

I wouldn't. I would buy a 150 Symmar, an APO-Lanthar, a Dagor, a Xenar and a 165 Angulon, and still have money left for film.

I don't blame you Ole. I admit that I prefer a smaller set of equipment than you do.

 

[Ole]

I don't blame you Ole. I admit that I prefer a smaller set of equipment than you do.

While I was typing I realised I have all that - although I've sold the Symmar, and the Dagor is a 180m. But I still have a Serrac 6", and a 135mm Planar, a Heliar, an Eurynar, and a 150 f:3.5 Xenar Typ D, and a G-Claron , and... above that. And that's only in the 135 to 180mm range!

Still my total lens outlay is not much more than the price of one new lens.

 

[roteague]

While I was typing I realised I have all that - although I've sold the Symmar, and the Dagor is a 180m. But I still have a Serrac 6", and a 135mm Planar, a Heliar, an Eurynar, and a 150 f:3.5 Xenar Typ D, and a G-Claron , and... above that. And that's only in the 135 to 180mm range!

Still my total lens outlay is not much more than the price of one new lens.

I probably shouldn't tell you what I paid for my new 80mm XL this past summer then, which I bought new. I am seriously considering getting the 110mm XL as well - the big question with that lens is that I already have a 135mm and I need to keep the number of lenses I carry to a minimum. I'm just not sure if the focal length is necessary. I carry three lenses when I travel, a 80mm XL, 135mm and a 210mm, all Schneider lenses.

 

[Ole]

Robert, I know from experience that the gap between 90 and 135mm is big enough to fit a lens in that makes a lot of difference. Mine's a 121mm - actually two different ones. :rolleyes:

Berween 80 and 135 I'd say you will definitely manage to find situations where one is too wide and the other too narrow.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Robert, I know from experience that the gap between 90 and 135mm is big enough to fit a lens in that makes a lot of difference. Mine's a 121mm - actually two different ones. :rolleyes:

Berween 80 and 135 I'd say you will definitely manage to find situations where one is too wide and the other too narrow.

Especially working outdoors in an area with vertical scenery. Can't move forwards, fall off a cliff. Can't move backwards, there's another cliff in the way. Geography, they say, is destiny.

Thanks, Ole, for explaining so concisely why I travel with too many lenses.

Thinking of eyes rolling, this morning I squandered $10 on a pretty little 1:4,5 F=12 cm Tessar, ~ 1912 vintage. An alternative to my 4.75"/7.7 Uno. So I've told my neighbor the Zeiss collector that the next time we see each other I'll give it to him. Also got a pretty little 150/9 Apo Ronar, late '50s vintage, that makes no sense given I have a 150/9 Cooke Copying Lens. Not sure which will go.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[carsten]

I just realised I have a Schneider Symmar 150/5:6 (signed Sinar) in Polaroid MP-4 shutter.
I forgot about it because it has visible marks and scratches and I have to make it clean. Does it worth a good clean or it will be too expensive?

 

[Ole]

Give it a good clean with liquid dishwashing soap (not the machine- kind). Unscrew the lens elements of course - the shutter won't like that treatment.

Visible marks and scratches will have to be very bad before they influence the picture. It's always worth testing a lens you have

 

[carsten]

I am afraid to confess they look like very bad.

 

[Ole]

I am afraid to confess they look like very bad.

No italics? Then it's worth a try

 

[carsten]

No italics? Then it's worth a try

Thank you Ole, I must confess one thing more:
my english is bad like my scratches and I did not get the humor...
:confused:

 

[carsten]

OLE I GOT THE HUMOR!!!
Very BAD scratches!!!

I just cleaned the lens using what you wrote and nothing changed...
The only solution would be to send it to some service.
Does it worth it?

 

[Ole]

You can probably find one with good glass and a dead shutter for $50 on ebay. Having glass serviced is generally not cost effective.

Several of my lenses are combinations of one badly scratched, even cracked, lens with good shutte, and another with good glass and a damaged shutter. It very often costs less than a good lens in good shutter.

Another version is the "camera with lens" trick - keep the lens and sell the camera. I bought a complete Chr. Fr. Winter 7-element casket set that way for about $250 - casket sets alone go for at least $800...

 

[carsten]

You can probably find one with good glass and a dead shutter for $50 on ebay. Having glass serviced is generally not cost effective.

Several of my lenses are combinations of one badly scratched, even cracked, lens with good shutte, and another with good glass and a damaged shutter. It very often costs less than a good lens in good shutter.

Another version is the "camera with lens" trick - keep the lens and sell the camera. I bought a complete Chr. Fr. Winter 7-element casket set that way for about $250 - casket sets alone go for at least $800...

Umphf... it is a sad story, I have to throw my lens in the trash bin...

 

[Ole]

Umphf... it is a sad story, I have to throw my lens in the trash bin...

- or sell it as a "soft portrait lens, for those romantic occasions - no soft filter needed!"

 

[Papa Tango]

- or sell it as a "soft portrait lens, for those romantic occasions - no soft filter needed!"

Ole, thank you! I have a drawer full of old scratched, fungus-filled, and cruddy lenses that will have new life as special sports on eBay! I now have a fog-effect lens, a hemispherical flare lens... Sounds like top dollar to me!

 

[carsten]

Ole, thank you! I have a drawer full of old scratched, fungus-filled, and cruddy lenses that will have new life as special sports on eBay! I now have a fog-effect lens, a hemispherical flare lens... Sounds like top dollar to me!

Yes! Or sell it like "very scratched and marked lens good to be sold as soft portrait romantic lens"!

PS just now I was using my zeiss tessar 4.7/150 in comparison with my 5.6/150 xenar. I will see the results in few days...

 

[carsten]

Yes! Or sell it like "very scratched and marked lens good to be sold as soft portrait romantic lens"!

PS just now I was using my zeiss tessar 4.7/150 in comparison with my 5.6/150 xenar. I will see the results in few days...

I do not know why but after checking my contact prints I prefer modern Xenar to the old Tessar...
Sorry for the question, but what does it mean the Apo prefix? Is something related to the glass? To the coating?
Carlo

 

[Dan Fromm]

I do not know why but after checking my contact prints I prefer modern Xenar to the old Tessar...
Sorry for the question, but what does it mean the Apo prefix? Is something related to the glass? To the coating?
Carlo

Is there any reason a priori why a relatively new Xenar shouldn't do better than a relatively old tessar? But then, you wrote "5.6/150 xenar." Ain't no such thing, did you mean some type of Symmar?

Apo prefix? When pronounced crApo, it is marketing hype intended to convey the idea "this here lens is really, really good. Don't stupid questions, just buy a couple of them." In other contexts, it means that the lens is apochromatic, focuses three colors to the same point. That is, doesn't suffer from some form or other of chromatic aberration.

 

[cperez]

Schneider still makes a very nice light small 150mm f/5.6 Xenar lens:
http://www.schneideroptics.com/photography/large_format_lenses/xenar/

I had one for awhile. V.fine optic, it was.

... But then, you wrote "5.6/150 xenar." Ain't no such thing, did you mean some type of Symmar?
...

 

[carsten]

Cperez is right. I have this small 150/5.6 Xenar. It is the first lens I bought and I did 90% of my work with it. It is a very good lens and I never complained about it. But since it is quite cheap and not so popular I was curious to know what was "wrong" with my lens.
Maybe has small coverage (but I don't tilt do much), maybe has something not perfect reproducing colours, I do not know. But I like it. Yes, it is small but it works like a grown up lens...

 

[Dan Fromm]

Schneider still makes a very nice light small 150mm f/5.6 Xenar lens:
http://www.schneideroptics.com/photography/large_format_lenses/xenar/

I had one for awhile. V.fine optic, it was.

Thanks very much for the correction. Won't make that mistake again.

Cheers,

Dan