I *may* get a 4x5 today

Well, its been over 20 years since I've worked with them. I started out in commerical studios in NY doing large format product shots. Worked my way down to 35mm. Its been a while but I'm sure its like riding a bike. I was really fast loading film and that's how I got a lot of assisting jobs.

Anyway, I may get a used 4x5 today but I have questions about some wide angle lens choices. What's out there thats 1) cheap, 2) covers close to the 90mm range, 3) does not need to be in a shutter, 4) covers 4x5

I've seen those Konica lenses in barrels but I don't think I've seen a short one. I've seen the 210 and 300mm versions of those.

The 90mm angulon just barely covers and is a fantastic lens.

The Konicas exist down to 150mm, which should still cover 5x7 with a bit of movement. Look around for a Goerz American Optical Dagor in the 4 3/8" size - they're usually in a Rapax shutter, will cover 4x5 with considerable movement, 5x7 with modest movement. Only downsides are that A: the Rapax does not have flash sync, and B: the filter size is something like 38.5mm or something else really odd, so you'll have to use gels mounted in a compendium shade or something like that if you need filters.

TheFlyingCamera said:

The Konicas exist down to 150mm, which should still cover 5x7 with a bit of movement. Look around for a Goerz American Optical Dagor in the 4 3/8" size - they're usually in a Rapax shutter, will cover 4x5 with considerable movement, 5x7 with modest movement. Only downsides are that A: the Rapax does not have flash sync, and B: the filter size is something like 38.5mm or something else really odd, so you'll have to use gels mounted in a compendium shade or something like that if you need filters.

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Cool. I'm writing all these down in my old fashioned analog "dayrunner". I'm used to no sync on large format. Put on "b", darkslide in front of lens, pop flash, close lens, done. For filters, I used to just tape them to the front of the lens.

Another option is Sinar DB mounted lenses. These come up on EBAY sometimes, intended to be used with a Sinar Copal board shutter. Since the lens elements don't have shutters, they tend to sell for much less than something mounted in a Copal 0 or Copal 1. The downside would be adapting to whatever 4x5 you get, or removing the lens elements and fitting them into a spacer block.

I just got back into 4x5 early this year after dumping most of my large format stuff around six years ago. The return and learning curve have been fairly simple. The only tough item for me so far has been loading a Linhof Super Rollex back that I just got.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
Dead Link Removed

I use a 90mm W.A. Optar, but it does run out of coverage before my B&J Press runs out of movements. On the plus side, it was about $100.