Why is the DOF of 4x5 greater than 35mm?

[Amund]

Thanks all..Australian dollar has just jumped.. I think its time for one more lens from Badger.. what is the best portrait lens for 4x5? I thinking something around 400mm.

Daniel.

You`ll do fine with your 210mm.
Your Tachi doesn`t have enough bellows extention to do portraits with a 400mm, telephoto or not.

Here`s a portrait with a 250mm Fujinon (on 4x5), shot at f/11:

 

[snaggs]

You`ll do fine with your 210mm.
Your Tachi doesn`t have enough bellows extention to do portraits with a 400mm, telephoto or not.

Here`s a portrait with a 250mm Fujinon (on 4x5), shot at f/11:

Now, that is really exciting!! Awesome shot. Can you tell us all how you lit that? With regards to the Tachi.. isn't there a bellows extension? Is it not usuable or something?

Daniel.

 

[Amund]

Thanks. It was lit with a single Alien Bee B1600 with a honeycomb attached. You can see the angle from the nose shadow. A white reflector was used to put some light into the shadow side. The bellows extention is how much you can extend your camers bellows, not an extra part....

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Yes- your bellows on the Tachihara is about 12" (300mm), which is enough to focus a 300mm (non-telephoto) lens to infinity. You can probably use up to a 360mm or MAYBE a 400 telephoto. The downside of telephoto design lenses is that they a: have a much smaller image circle, and b: they are normally slower maximum aperture to begin with (usually f8 lenses for 4x5). A 250mm lens would make a nice length portrait lens for 4x5, and would probably still be focusable to portrait distances on your Tachi. One thing you can do to get a bit more focusing range is for whatever lens you use longer than a 210, you can get a "top-hat" lensboard, which puts the lens out farther in front of the front standard, thus giving you a bit more extension.

Honestly, though, the majority of my 4x5 portrait work has been done with a 210, and I've been very happy with the results. The 210 has just enough length to give you some control over what you include and don't include in the shot, but isn't so long that you can't focus it to portrait length. You can actually get down to ALMOST 1:1 reproduction ratio on your Tachi with a 210 - more than enough for a nice tight head shot.

 

[Nick Zentena]

I think your right.. I really need something around 400mm and fast. Nikon and Canon and every man and his dog can make a 400mm f/2.8. So why can't our german elves make us at least a 400mm f/4 telephoto ?

Daniel.

Imagine how big the shutter would be

 

[darinwc]

Amund: Thanks for sharing! That was a fine example of the fact that you dont need f2.8 to have limited depth of field with LF. A headshot is around 1:2 ratio.