How many LF lenses do you own?

[Eric Rose]

One less than I need whenever I'm out shooting.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

When I first posted to this thread in 2002 I had seven lenses, mostly for 8x10" and 11x14". Since then I added 4x5" and 5x7", and I've picked up a few nice portrait lenses, and it looks like I've got, ummm...around...er...well...three times that many...ummmm... LF lenses now.

 

[colrehogan]

David,
LOL!!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Well, on the other side, I've sold off four 35mm lenses and two LF lenses in the meanwhile, and haven't bought any new 35mm or MF lenses. What's really amusing is that I sold a 90/6.8 Angulon, because I have a 90/8.0 Super-Angulon, but decided that the Angulon was so light and compact and relatively cheap that I regretted selling it, so I bought another one.

 

[JohnArs]

Hi David

I expanded my set also a bit now i have 21 LF lenses, because I got a 8x10 and for this monster i needed longer lenses and also a 155mm Grandagon. I still dream of 2-3 more but not at the moment.

 

[jd callow]

58mm sa xl
75 nikkor sw
135 optar
203 kodak
240 heliar (on Loan from Jim Gali -- Have I mentioned what a great guy he is lately?)
14" com Ektar

The 58 and 75 get most of the work.

If I buy the Heliar off of jim the Kodak may go away, the Optar is going to be sold once I find a 65 - 80mm for my press camera and at some point I would like to get 38mm sa xl with a 6x12 back.

 

[Peter De Smidt]

Let's see:
110 Schneider Super .... aspheric..I forget the actual name.
210 Fuji w
210 Schneider G claron
240 Schneider G claron
300 Fuji C
300 Graphic Kowa
420 L Fujinon
600 C Fujinon

So that's 8. I'd like a 75mm, but I doubt it's in the cards.

-Peter
www.desmidt.net

 

[Peter Schrager]

Lenses

4x5
100mm Ektar
135mm Optar
152mm Ektar
135mm Voightlander Colinear/also covers 5x7
210mm Apo-symmar
240/420mm Symmar

5x7
150mm Super Symmar
10 inch Ross Homocentric
16.5inch R.D. Artar

8x10Plus
210mm S.Angulon
480mm Apo-Symmar
800mm Nikkor

 

[reinierv]

75mm Symmar
150 mm covertible
210 mm convertible will move from Cambo to Graflex
recently aquired: 210mm Symmar-S MC for 4x5 portrait

looking for a +/-300-360mm portraitlens for 5x7

 

[colrehogan]

4x5
90 mm f/4.5 Nikkor SW
150 mm APO Symmar
203 mm Kodak f/7.7
210/370 mm Symmar convertible

8x10
159 mm f/9.5 Wollensak
210 mm f/9 G-Claron
240 mm f/9 G-Claron
300 mm f/8.5 Fujinon-C
420 mm f/9 Repro-Claron

 

[matt miller]

I currently have only one lens for my 8x10, a 12" Dagor. I'm feeling the need for something wider though, around 180-210. Has to be cheap, I don't have much money for photography these days. Anybody got anything they want to get rid of?

 

[John McCallum]

Just an 80mm, 150mm and 305. Use all of them roughly equally.

 

[bennoj]

Too many...

75 Super Angulon
90 Wollensack
100 WF Ektar
135 Optar
135 Xenar
150 Xenar
165 Wollensack 8x10 Extreme Wide-Angle
8x10 EWA Velostigmatic?
210 Symmar-S
203 Paragon
240 Berlin Dagor
300 RD Artar
300 Dogmar
360 Wollensack Tele
360 Schneider Tele (Can't recall which one)
12" Paragon
14" Commercial Ektar
21" Process Paragon
Seneca 5x7 Triple Convertible

I might be misremembering a few details and missing 1 or 2. The ones I use most are:

4x5 - 75mm SA, 100 WFE, 150 Xenar, 210 Symmar-S
8x10 - 300 RD Artar, 21" Paragon, Wollensack EWA

 

[Pete H]

Too many...
...

I might be misremembering a few details and missing 1 or 2.

One! A 150 mm Symmar for my 5x4.
I'm missing 1 or 2 as well, but I hope to get them when I have the cash.

 

[Campy]

Five, 80mm SSXL, 135mm APO Sironar S, 150mm G Claron, 210mm Schneider APO Symmar, and 300mm Nikon M. 210 is most used, then 135, 80, 150, and 300.

 

[Changeling1]

Also, how many do you use regularly?

Edward Weston said in 1937- "My equipment list was simple:
1. 8x10 Century Universal camera
2. 2 lenses (a triple convertible Turner Reich 12"21"28") and (19" element of a Zeiss Protar)
3. 3 filters (K2, G, A)
4. 1 lens shade (Worshing Counter Light Cap)
5. 1 tripod with tilting top (Paul Ries)
6. 1 "focussing cloth" (black sateen covered with white to reflect the heat of the desert sun)
7. 2 camera cases (painted white for the same reason)
8. 12 film holders
9. 1 insulated wooden box to hold exposed films
10. for accident insurance I carried a spare ground glass, tripod screw, tripod leg, and wire (cable) release."
Mr. Weston made over one thousand negatives with this set up in the one year he travelled about 23,000 miles through California.

 

[andrewfrith]

8x10:
150 SW nikkor
165 Angulon
180 Zeiss Dagor
210 Super-Angulon
8 1/4" Dagor
250 Fuji WS f6.7
300 Fujinon C
12" Dagor
305 Repro-Claron
360 Caltar S-II
450 RD Artar
610 Apo-nikkor

always lusting for more

 

[Mongo]

Mr. Weston made over one thousand negatives with this set up in the one year he travelled about 23,000 miles through California.

That's because he wasn't spending his time trying to figure out which lens to use.

 

[jimgalli]

Edward Weston said in 1937- "My equipment list was simple:
1. 8x10 Century Universal camera
2. 2 lenses (a triple convertible Turner Reich 12"21"28") and (19" element of a Zeiss Protar)
3. 3 filters (K2, G, A)
4. 1 lens shade (Worshing Counter Light Cap)
5. 1 tripod with tilting top (Paul Ries)
6. 1 "focussing cloth" (black sateen covered with white to reflect the heat of the desert sun)
7. 2 camera cases (painted white for the same reason)
8. 12 film holders
9. 1 insulated wooden box to hold exposed films
10. for accident insurance I carried a spare ground glass, tripod screw, tripod leg, and wire (cable) release."
Mr. Weston made over one thousand negatives with this set up in the one year he travelled about 23,000 miles through California.

He also adds a footnote at the end of California and the West that the negatives are all soft because the lens was crummy.

 

[mjs]

I have a 127mm Ektar which gets used so little that the shutter has gotten sticky (a fine lens, I just don't use wide-angles very much,) a 180mm Fuji CM-W which is my most-used lens, a 240mm Caltar IIN (Rodenstock), and the new baby, a 14" RD Artar. Maybe someday something in the 18"-20" range, but not now.

Mike

 

[brimc76]

I have 3 lenses for my 4x5 cameras. A Schneider Symmar Convertible 150mm/265mm, a Schneider Xenar 135mm (Crown Graphic Special), and a Schneider Super Angulon 90mm. I have been looking for another lens but can't decide. I guess something around the 240mm to 300mm. At the moment I happy with what I have.

 

[Sportera]

I have three lenses as well fo rmy 4x5. 90mm F8 Fuji, 150mm F5.6 Nikkor, and a 210mm F5.6 Calumet. I can cover most any subject with these lenses.

 

[Dave Parker]

To be honest with you, I don't actually know? the ones I use, I guess I have 4, but the ones I own, boy, I am lost!

Dave

 

[phfitz]

Thanks for the thread, it's nice to know I'm not the only slightly insane person in the world. Nearing 100, each camera has it's own set. Now to find the time to play, I love being downsized into necessary overtime.

I know I'm obsessive, compulsive, anal retentive and relentless. So, that's a good thing. Right?

 

[George Papantoniou]

"The 8 x 10 is a very simple camera. The movements are a bit intimidating to the uninitiated, but, in fact, by dint of long practice I no longer need think of the physics of photography at all. I give something a little tweak, maybe a twist, focus, and I'm set. I believe that technique should absorb a minimum of energy. There's an experiment in psychology that tells the tale: A group of children, barefoot, is given the task of crossing the floor of a room without touching it with any part of their bodies. They are each given two pieces of wood the size of shingles and two pieces of string. The enterprising children quickly come up with the idea of making shoes. They tie wood to each foot and run across. Another group of children, assigned the identical goal, is furnished with only one piece of wood and one length of string. These children tie the board onto one foot and hop across. They spend half as much time tying knots and ultimately reach the other side of the room more quickly. It's the more elegant solution, the one using fewer tools.
Homo sapiens like to use as many tools as possible. If I have two lenses or two film types, I'll spend time thinking about which to use. But if I limit myself to one lens and one film type, I've eliminated mechanical considerations. I simply use what is there. It's not an accident that Edward Weston took most of his pictures with a six-dollar lens that he bought at a junk store. Good photographers usually have a very simple technique. Yet the photographic education industry teaches students how to do a thousand things, thus armoring the majority of them against being able to do anything of quality. It's very ironic.
If I think mechanically when I'm making a photograph, the light will run away from me. Light is ephemeral. Practiced instinct is the only sure ally in any race with the sun's absolute velocity. At the end of the day when shadows stretch and pivot, one is surely outstripped if tangled by thought and measure."

Jock Sturges


I own ten, I think, but I try to keep what is quoted above in mind. When going out with my Technika, I only carry the 150 and the 120 Schneider. The other 8 are mounted on boards for the monorail, anyway...