Dagor for portraits?

[darinwc]

I have a nice 210mm Goerz Dagor. I McGuyvered it so it is now front-mounted in an alphax shutter. This limits the coverage a bit, but i havent tried it on my 8x10 yet so im not sure how much. I thought it would be a nice focal length on my 4x5 for portraits.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has used these for portraits. The max aperture does limit me to brighter lighted areas. But otherwise its pretty easy to focus on the gg. How are they when shooting fully open?

 

[Donald Miller]

I have a 8 1/4 inch (210 mm) dagor that is mounted in a Rapax shutter. It has limited movements on the 8X10 and not all dagors are the same according to those who have more experience with this lens. I think that the lens is too sharp for portraiture (at least mine is). The other issue is the focal length on 8X10...typically one would use a lens that is longer than normal focal length to keep from having distortion issues. I, personally, would choose 375 mm as the shortest length that I would use on 8X10 for portraiture...450 mm would be nice too.

 

[Jim Noel]

I use a couple of my longer Dagors for portraits on occasion. They are used wide open to cut down as much as possible on the sharpness. Actually I make all portraits wide open no matter the lens. My soft focus lenses are also used in this manner.

 

[Ole]

Try it?

If it's too sharp, try "converting" it by removing the front cell. That should give you a 360mm f:13 or something like that, assuming you start with a 210/6.8. It will also be nicely soft - if you can manage to focus it.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

It's a fantastic portrait lens if you shoot it wide-open. The Dagors have aberrations that will give some subtle glow/diffusion to highlights when shot wide-open -- not quite as pronounced or obvious as what you see in Hurrell's Hollywood publicity photos, but enough to make a pleasing difference. I've shot an early 7-inch Dagor in 4x5 and 5x7, and love the results. (I shot my APUG avatar image with that lens, mounted on a 5x7 Deardorff. Go to www.mcnew.net for a larger version of the photograph.)

The Dagors are sharp, and you need their sharpness for the eyes in portraiture. But if you shoot it wide-open, and focus on the eyes, the limited depth of field combined with the highlight diffusion will soften it plenty for your needs away from the eyes.

I would not shoot the Dagor as a single cell. I've gone that route, and I was disappointed with its performance. To get respectable results with the single cell, you need to stop it way down. Otherwise the results are unacceptably muddy to my eye.

Sanders

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

12" Gold Dot Dagor around f:14 on 8x10" Astia--

 

[Jeremy]

300mm f/6.8 Dagor wide open.