Funinon 250mm. SF lens

[Charles Webb]

First off, my most sincere apologies to those I may have offended by posting
my question in some one else's thread. I am a nuby to this Forum so am not
familiar with exactly how it works. Anyway please forgive my stupidity!

Does anyone have direct experience using the Fujinon 250mm SF lens with 4x5 or larger?

I am interested in a possible comparison with other popular soft focus lenses,
I do not care for what I call "muddy" prints, (high lights spread into shadow or the shadow into the high lights) I want the optical effect I used to get
with and old P&S lens I once owned. The new P&S Cooke lens is completely
out of question budget wise, so am trying to find an SF lens that can come
close to what the old P&S gave me.

Thanks in advance for any help, information or sugestions.

C Webb

 

[Emile de Leon]

I've owned and used the Fuji SF 250mm for awhile now and it is a very good lens with big coverage. I mostly use it as an experimental lens when I'm in the mood. Mine came in a Copal 3s shutter which I like as my computar barrel lenses go right in there too. So I have a single shutter for quite a few lenses. They can be had pretty cheap on Ebay from time to time, I paid $295.00 for mine. Even though the lens is rated for 8x10, at portrait distances it has much more coverage. I have even used it on 7x17/12x20 for an interesting effect to say the least. I use it without the discs for maximum brightness on the GG. It sharpens by increment as you stop down. I love this lens and have not even minimally tapped into it's possibilities. Emile. www.deleon-ulf.com

 

[noseoil]

180mm SF

Charles, I don't have the 250mm lens, but do use the 180mm in 4x5 work and enjoy it. I find it gives a wonderful softness to a portrait and is a good alternative to the Cooke lens. Although the Cook is one piece of incredible glass, the price is also a bit much to deal with for my budget. I don't use lighting for portraits which has a lot of hot spots, so I'm not certain how much bleeding you can expect from specular highlights with this system. I guess I could try a bike shot in full sun to see what happens to the chrome, it might be interesting to find out. Since I've just started my vacation, I'll let you know what it does if I'm out and find a good candidate to try it on.

I've been told that the 180mm is a fine lens for pictorial landscapes, but this is not really my idea of a landscape, as the softness would be too distracting to me. I guess I should try it a time or two just to find out. Again, perhaps this coming week would be a time to find out.