Top 10 Reasons to keep a large-format lens.

[darinwc]

Top 10 Reasons to keep a large-format lens.

10. Its hard to find. Not that you are a serious collector. But you spent months watching ebay auctions to the last second. No way you are going to let it go with all that time put into it.

9. Its in perfect condition. Who knows if there will be any LF lens maufacturers still in business in 5-10 years. Better keep that pristine lens to yourself in case there is a sudden shortage. Put it in a climate-controlled case and seal it with a padlock.

8. Its in crappy condition. The coating is like sandpaper. The glass it chipped. the barrel looks like a crushed can. Might as well keep it. Throw in the junk drawer. Not like you are going to make any money selling it.

7. It's a fast lens. Probably good for portraits or low-light photography. So what if you only shoot landscapes and allways stop down to f90.

6. It's a slow lens. Great backpacking lens! Super lightweight. Youll definately use it the next time you go in the field (with your 40 pounds of other gear).

5. Its a sharp lens. Its the sharpest lens you own, or at least thats what everybody on the web says.

4. Its a soft lens. Great for making those surreal and haunting images. if you ever used it, youd be in with the holga-holics.

3. It fits a camera you have.

2. You dont have a suitable camera. The focal length is too long or too short. It doesnt cover the format, or its just too damn big for your camera. Either way, your bidding on a camera for it right now.

1. Its a normal lens. Nothing special about it. Its not really sharp. But not soft enough to have a pleasing effect. But you cant sell it! You take 90% of your shots with it.

 

[DrPablo]

There is a school of linguistics, championed by the likes of Bertrand Russell, that tries to distill the information in words to a mathematical expression of content. I'm no expert in this, but here's what I gather:

1. It's either hard to find or hard to sell
2. It's either perfect or imperfect
3. It's either fast or slow
4. It's either sharp or soft
5. It either fits or does not fit

All 5 of these encompass the entirety of options in the parameter in question.

Because these statements cannot have exceptions, they can also apply to the opposite proposition.

In other words, you could just as easily have called the thread "Top 10 reasons to get rid of a large format lens"

 

[darinwc]

DrPablo, you have just recited step 2 in in the GAS Annonymous road to recovery. Congradualtions! (everybody clap)

 

[DrPablo]

Hehe, if the Hassy I'm about to pick up has anything to say about it, I probably have to attend more group meetings...

 

[Ole]

I had one that was neither fast nor slow, neither pristine nor crappy, neither especially sharp nor especially soft, not long or wide...

Now I know why I sold the 150mm Symmar!

 

[Daniel_OB]

What now is me to do with my Grandagon 4.5/90.
10. Its hard to find. No it is not.
9. Its in perfect condition. No it is not
8. Its in crappy condition. No it is not
7. It's a fast lens. No it is not
6. It's a slow lens. No it is not
5. Its a sharp lens. No it is not
4. Its a soft lens. No it is not
3. It fits a camera you have. Any lens can fit my Linhof.
2. You dont have a suitable camera. Yes I do have.
1. Its a normal lens. No it is not for it still works.

But I still do not want to keep it. It just goes after me all the time.

ww.Leica-R.com

 

[Rolleiflexible]

11. Fries bugs.

 

[argus]

I had one that was neither fast nor slow, neither pristine nor crappy, neither especially sharp nor especially soft, not long or wide...

Now I know why I sold the 150mm Symmar!

I've got 4 of them. Maybe yours is in my collection?
I plan to stack them together to make af f128 / 600mm lens ;-)

G

 

[jimgalli]

The honest among us will admit that keeping / not keeping a lens has little to do with reasons good or bad. It's glandular. I keep it if I feel like it. I feel like keeping well over a hundred of them today.

 

[darinwc]

I just did an inventory of my LF lenses. 28. of course that includes cheapos like the 103mm tri-optar and 127mm tominon. I could probably go down to about 12 and be happy.

 

[MarkS]

That reminds me; there's one I want to sell. Keep your eyes open for it...

 

[Dan Fromm]

I just did an inventory of my LF lenses. 28. of course that includes cheapos like the 103mm tri-optar and 127mm tominon. I could probably go down to about 12 and be happy.

That's not very many. If you're going to brag, you should have something to brag about.

 

[darinwc]

That's not very many. If you're going to brag, you should have something to brag about.

lol yeah... but my wife thinks its alot=]
but im sure some of you guys are well over 100. (points to Jim, Dan, Ole)

 

[Sirius Glass]

They make good paperweights at the office.

Steve

 

[jstraw]

I own 4. I feel so inadequate.

I have a 65, a 90, a 150 and a 210. I'd like a 300 and will get one eventually...for now there's always something I want more than another piece of glass.

 

[removed account4]

because ...
you can remove a cell paint it with
varnish, or water glass or collodion or jell-o
and use it as it was not intended

 

[darinwc]

add these to the list:

>I dont know what its for, but someday i might find a use for it.

>I wont sell it cause then someone else would have it. (my wife buys shoes with a similar addage)

 

[John Kasaian]

11. You don't have to feed it
12. Its good to have a spare in case your other lens has to go in for a cla
13. Ansel Adams (or Edward Weston or Sally Mann) had one
14. It was your first lens and is a standard by which you judge all others
15. Nobody else wants it.
16. Because it really is a very cool piece of glass.
17. It is a cosmic portal to all previous occassions when it was used by past photographers (hows that for off the wall?)
18. Some day it'll be worth a lot of money
19. Canadian Balsams would have died in vane so that the elements could be stuck together for you (and only you) to enjoy.
20. You can't figure out how to put the thing on ebay.
21. You don't want to deal with ebay.
22. You're saving it to trade for something you really want.
23. The camera store won't take it in trade for a digital elph.
24. You appreciate the old world craftsmanship the lens exemplifies
25. It is a cosmic portal to all previous occ.....did I mention this one aleady?

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

15. Nobody else wants it.

That applies to 35mm lens too: Why is it that I cannot sell these lenses I had bought some time ago and now don't use? If they were boughtable, why can't they also be sellable???

 

[Ole]

lol yeah... but my wife thinks its alot=]
but im sure some of you guys are well over 100. (points to Jim, Dan, Ole)

No, I believe I'm well under 100. Something like 20 in shutter, and another 40 in barrel.

How do I count a casket set? One lens? Seven lenses? Or 18, for the different focal length combinations I can make from it?

 

[raucousimages]

1. The "beater" lens.
Good for shooting in harsh enviroments where you don't want to damage a "good" lens. (salt spray, rain, acid, oil, flying debris, sand, chance of dropping or falling...) I just had the chance to shoot the cylinder of a 1907 Baldwin steam locomotive being honed. There was lubricant flying all over the place. I was not going to use my best 150 but I did risk my old Caltar.

2. The "loaner" lens.
Good for children, students, buddies interested in starting in LF Etc...

3. The "backup" lens.
A second lens identical or very close to a lens you depend on. Usualy if you use it constantly for comercial work and can't aford down time.

 

[Jonathan Brewer]

I don't know what you've been smokin, if you got any left over, please ship it to me priority mail .