How many LF lenses do you own?

[cperez]

Sandy, good points. Still, when is "enough" really "enough"? OK, maybe its a matter of having too much expendible income (thank you eBay) and too vast a curiosity in the topic to leave well enough alone.

In LF/ULF I still have too many chunks of yummy glass laying around. 75, 90, 110, 150 (2), 200, 250 (2), 305, 355 and a stack of oddities from various trades and purchases (including at least two Dagors of seriously old vintage along with other cruft and fluff). These handle 4x5, 8x10, 10x12, 11x14 and 7x17 formats, variously.

That this thread lives on tickles some weird funny bone in me.

 

[Donald Miller]

Yeah???But mine is bigger then yours!!!!

 

[MurrayMinchin]

120 & 210 Schneider lenses...the only two lenses I've owned since I got the 4x5 over 20 years ago. Oh ya, and a pair of legs so I can walk closer to or further away from things

Murray

 

[colrehogan]

I am with Ole on this. I use a lot of formats and need more lenses than others. And my philosohy is that you only become a lensaholic if you have more than 13 lenses per format.

Also, if you just collect them (say you don't use them more than four or five times a year just to keep everything in good working order) the number goes even higher before you become a lensaholic.

And if you like that argument you ought to hear me rationalize my consumption of good red wine to my wife!!

Sandy

LOL! I like that! But I'd look like a lensaholic if I ever went shooting with all my lenses at once.

 

[matt miller]

for a long time I just had the 12" Dagor, which I love. My newly aquired 210 WA Wray is fast becoming my most used though. I have a 165 Angulon that doesn't see much action and a 480 APO Nikkor that I haven't used yet. I kind of get stuck at one focal length and it's hard for me to see outside of that.

 

[philldresser]

I have only one in use (Xenar 135) which is in a very poor state (Elements are very scratched). Infact it looks like someone played Ice Hockey on it. However I am saving for a decent 150 (Nikon,Fuji,Schnieder,Rodenstoct etc) and am about halfway to my budget.

I also have a 210 G Claron which I have not tried yet as I am looking for a copal 1 to drop it into.

Phill

 

[Scott Edwards]

One Rodenstock Sironar S 150 5.6.

I also have a 480 mm process lens that is, at present, serving as a paper weight.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

For the 4x5, I have a Rodenstock 75 6.8, Rodenstock 90 6.8, Goerz Am. WA Dagor 4 3/8"(110mm) F8, Sinaron 150 5.6 and Sinaron 210 5.6. For my 8x10 camera, I've got a Nikkor 240 5.6 and a 14" Commercial Ektar 6.3, and a Konica Hexanon GRII 260 f9 that is currently unmounted. Next on the list is something in a 19" for the 8x10, and maybe something in a telephoto for the 4x5.

 

[Rlibersky]

I have a 165mm, 210mm, 360mm, 420mm, 19", 24", and a 750mm. All cover at least my 8x10. The 360 and 165 are used the most.

 

[seadrive]

None (yet), unless you consider a hole in a brass shim to be a lens.

 

[scootermm]

it makes an image so I would guess so.

I have 4.
a 135mm kodak thats on my crown graphic
a 300mm Nikkor W thats for the 8x10
a 14" Commercial Ektar for the 7x17
and a 300mm Konica GRII also for the 7x17

I cant really imagine using more than one lens per format. thats hard enough for me. the two lenses for the 7x17 confuse me enough.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I have a 90mm SA, a 150mm Fujinon, and a 210/370 Symmar convertible.I don't really know what I am doing with the camera yet, but I manage to use all four focal lengths.

 

[Ole]

It only gets confusing when you're trying to decide whether to use the 121, the 135, 150, 6" or 165mm lens for a particular shot (assuming the 180 is too long and the 90 too short)

 

[MikeC.]

I have Schnieder 150, 210, Kodak 10 in, Dagor 12 in, B&L Protar IV 12x16, Ronar 300 and 600, Carl meyer 12in, Conley 8 in convertable to 14 and 18. Also Wollensack 12 soft focus.

 

[James Bleifus]

I only have 2 lenses, a 210 G Claron and a 305 G Claron. I use both an 8X10 and 5X7 back on my Masterview, so it's almost like having four lenses. I hope to get a Fuji 450 or (and?) a 19" Artar soon.

Cheers, James

 

[wilhelm]

I shoot 4x5, and I've got just three:

90mm f/5.6 Super Angulon
210mm f/5.6 Nikkor-W
300mm Imagon

I definitely use the 90 and 210, and need to find more reasons to use the Imagon, because it's just darn cool. Looking to add something in the 75mm range too.

 

[Donald Miller]

It only gets confusing when you're trying to decide whether to use the 121, the 135, 150, 6" or 165mm lens for a particular shot (assuming the 180 is too long and the 90 too short)

I believe that legs work pretty well...at least in my limited experience.

 

[Ole]

I believe that legs work pretty well...at least in my limited experience.

Sometimes legs work quite well. But it can get difficult around here when the tripod is set up on the only flat spot, with vertical cliff faces both behind (up) and in front (down). Front fall is possibly the movement I use most...

 

[GregT.]

Also, how many do you use regularly?

I shoot 4x5. my 4 Lenses include:

90mm Angulon
135mm Schneider APO-Symmar
203mm Kodak Ektar
300mm Nikkor-M

Most often use Schneider 135mm and Kodak 203mm.

 

[pgomena]

I own 6 LF lenses, Schneider 90 f/8 SA, 120 f/8 SA, 150 f/5.6 Symmar-s, 210 f/5.6 Symmar-S, 305 G-Claron, 360mm tele-whateveron. All used with 4x5, most used are the 150, 210, 305. The 210 and 305 also were used on my 8x10 along with a Wollensak 13/20/25.5" convertible that I traded away with my 8x10. Neat lens, very sharp in the 13" and 20" configurations.

Peter Gomena

 

[Charles Webb]

WHAT A LIST OF TOYS!
Wow, very interesting thread. I noticed little or no mention of the "Sink Strainer" soft focus lenses, one Imagon and unless I missed it no Fuji.
I guess I wonder Why so few own them and there is so little to say about them. I have a Fuji and like it very much, but when I want soft focus I invaribly pick up a Verito and go from there. Like I said, I was just wondering!

 

[Ole]

Looking back, I see I haven't mentioned the Imagon yet. Probably because I don't have a shutter for it (yet) - it was bought as "Parts: Rear element only".

Or the 121mm f:6.8 Leitmeyr Weitwinkel-anastigmat - an Angulon look-alike. Or the 210mm f:6.8 - a real Angulon this time (pre-WWII for greater coverage). Or the 355 G-Claron which just arrived. Or the 480/11 APO-Ronar. Or the 500mm f:5.5 Schneider Göttingen Aerotar (anyone ever heard of one before? Big heavy thing, a fraction too big to fit the iris mount I recently used as an excuse to buy another camera: Camera and mount cost less than half what the mounts alone usually go for).

What else? There's a 180mm Goertz Doppel-Anastigmat Serie III (A.K.A. Dagor) on the way from Russia, yet another Industar-37 300mm f:4.5 bringing the total to one again (I sold one), a complete (?) set of French "Pays" (landscape meniscus) lenses, a big heavy brass thing which may or may not be a projector lens, a couple of Aplanats and Rapid Rectilinears - both "normal" and wide-angle, and some more I can't remember off the top of my head, and...

I've lost count. I'm also not quite sure which to call "LF lenses" as some of the very old ones are very doubtful. Anybody got a spare lens barrel with 44mm diameter? I have these French landscape lenses, and...

 

[Dave Wooten]

Ole,

Check out Rolyn optics www.rolyn.com for parts to assemble lenses etc. mounts, barrels ,
Dead Link Removed



A few months back you mentioned you might be able to test some 35 mm Russian l/d lenses etc and compare them....the rare earth lenses. Wondered if you had had chance to do that and if there were any conclusions....i.e. Industar with and without the rare earth formula etc.

 

[Ole]

Thanks Dave! I'll certainly look into those lens mounts - when I get back from offshore (not there yet, but my brain seems to be preparing for work).

I still haven't finished the film that I need to get out before I can unmount the 135mm Hektor from the FED; the weather has been most "unphotogenic" this summer (I think that's what they called it, at least). But sooner or later there will be a few days of decent weather, and I'll get the film out, the lens off, another film in, and a selection of lenses on and off and on again. There's just a LF gathering to finish fist, and an unknown number of LF lenses which should also be tested...

On the other hand, I could put them on the Bessa-L - but then I'd be limited to guess focus, which isn't really the best way to compare lenses?

 

[PULLATAB]

90 rodenstock, 150 g- claron, 120 apo sym, 210 sironar-n, 300 fugii tele, 360 aporonar for 4x5

150 nikkor sw, 240 fugi w , 355 g-claron, 480 apo ronar, 600 fugi L for 8x10 format