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longest focal lenght lens

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Stephen Frizza

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What is the longest focal length lens available for 4x5? ive not used anything greater than 210mm?
 
I've used 500mm, and have enough bellows for 600mm at infinity.

My longest "modern" lens is a 420mm Repro-Claron.
 
I have a 600mm Docter apo-germinar which I use for portaiture in LF 4X5.
As an example of image take a look at my autoportait in palladium.
 

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You can use any long lens that covers if you've got enough bellows extension, however on my Wista I can just use a 300mm f9 M Nikon, but the Nikon 360mm Telephoto will just fit too.

If you own a modular monorail then even the 1200mm Nikkor T ED can be used.

Ian
 
With 4x5, you are typically bellows limited on lens choice at infinity. Most of the woodies don't permit long bellows, but you should be able to use a Nikor 360T and 500T combination.

When I occasionally use 4x5, I have used the Nikor 1200t. Requires a meter rail on the Arca , long bellows and a tripod at each end of the rail. Very useful for long distance images during periods of clear cold air - city images of San Francisco from Twin Peaks, details within the crater at Halekela, details within the Grand Canyon, peaks in the NW, have all been made with this arrangement.

There are many lenses within the range 800-1200 that are viable with 4x5 with appropriate bellows extension.

Don
 
I use a Sinar so when doing portaits I ad 3 extension rails and 3 bellows.
 
I have and use quite often a 600mm Fuji telephoto. Though you need about 380mm of bellows to focus at infinity. There are other lenses in the 800mm and 1200mm class you can use, but you need long bellows and a very sturdy tripod. At anything longer than 400mm, I find vibration to be a real problem. Windy days, etc and you will have problems.

Gary
 
.... At anything longer than 400mm, I find vibration to be a real problem. Windy days, etc and you will have problems.

Gary

You are correct about extended bellows being a fine sail and creating vibrations....but find a good (giant) Golf Umbrella. Use this to spill the wind around your camera. I do this all the time with my 12x20 Canham with 4.5 foot long bellows...it works in windy conditions quite well. We have especially bad wind in the Columbia River Gorge (windsurfing capital of the world, my friends that windsurf tell me....) and this solution works fine.
 
How long is a piece of string? You can use as long a lens as you have bellows for. Typically, I don't go longer than 360mm on 4x5", but I posted a test shot with a 75cm cell on 4x5" from a Busch Vademecum set here--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
 
At the present time, the longest is the 300mm Ektar on my Deardorff V-8. The 4x5 back allows mucho extensions with the 4x5 reduction back.

Whenever I get around to getting something like a 450 or 600 Nikor lens, that will be the longest 4x5 lens available.

tim in san jose
 
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