Fresnel for 7x17 for 185 to get or of to get?

[Ales']

Hi, I fully paid for a custom 7x17 non folding camera that comes with a lens board and ground glass protector for around 2740€ shipped,

The maker also can install a fresnel lens for 185€

Shoud i get it?
In my little experience with 250 f6.7 fujinon on 8x10 frenel made a huge difference.

For 7x17 the only lens I have and plan to use is 355mm f6,8/620mm f16 Symmar.
Woud i need a fresnel for this lens and format combination?
I dont plan to buy shorter f9 lenses because 355mm on 7x17 is already horizontaly wider than 250mm I was used to on 8x10/4x10 crops

To try it first without fresnel means spending 30€ more for separate shipping making the fresnel 215€

 

[koraks]

Yeah, I think you'll really need a fresnel to be able to work with this comfortably. It's really awkward to have to bend over into the far corners to see what's going on along the edges of the image.

I can't say whether the €185 fresnel is worth it. You can buy general-purpose sheets of fresnel material and cut that to size, which will probably be (a lot) cheaper. Then again, given the total cost of the new setup, why bother? Just order it with the fresnel included so you know everything fits and you can reach out to the seller if it doesn't work well for some reason. We're talking about 7% on top of what you're already paying. Peanuts.