Wide angle medium format on a budget

[Dan Daniel]

Well, it's a crude prototype but it works. 47mm Ilex Acugon mounted onto the helical from a Pentax 50mm f/2 lens. Box built from 1/16" ABS, back is a Singer Graflex 6x9 (that happens to give an almost exact 6x8 ratio). I tried a cheap viewfinder for a while and decided that guessing worked well enough for what I was doing.

Total- ~$160

 

[Dan Fromm]

Cute. Where'd you steal your Acugon?

 

[Dan Daniel]

Cute. Where'd you steal your Acugon?

Bought it from someone.... can't remember the name right now but a known small seller... Ivor? Igor? Drawing a blank, but he had it on his site a few years ago.

Steal? Is it meant to be tied into another camera body? I've never heard much about them except an Angulon or Super Angulon copy.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Dan, in this context steal means buy for a lower than usual price. Could have been Igor, I've seen Acugons on his site. Not long ago I bought a lens well below market. What a steal!

Acugons, like most LF and LF-ish lenses, can be mounted on most, if not all, cameras that accept lenses on boards. I said LF-ish 'cos 47/8 Acugons, like 47 mm jes' plan Super Angulons (both speeds), are really for 2x3; none will cover 4x5.

 

[removed account4]

Let's say I like the idea of the SWC but I don't like the price. What camera would I want to get that has a good super wide lens but isn't $2000.

you have to get a keiv60 ( or cm88 ) and the arsat 30mm lens. you won't be sorry.
http://www.photographyreview.com/product/lenses/medium-format/kiev/arsat-30mm-f3-5-fisheye.html
it doesn't cost as much as its zeiss biotar cousin... and is pretty amazing. instead of running you $5grand for the lens and at least a grand for the body, the suggestions i made will probably run you about 3 hundred including shipping.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Let's say I like the idea of the SWC but I don't like the price. What camera would I want to get that has a good super wide lens but isn't $2000.

none I know of.

 

[Dan Fromm]

none I know of.

Ralphie, see post #6 above. There are many ways to accomplish what the OP wants to do, and more.

 

[Huss]

Brooks/Plaubel Veriwide... first or second edition. Plus you get a nice big 6x9 (more or less) negative. Oops, just checked and now they're pushing $2K too...

6x10.. I have one and also the Lomo LC-A 120. The Lomo is most similar to the SWC, at a fraction of the price and it has AE metering.

 

[cooltouch]

I have great results with the 45mm hand held - at that focal length, it should be easy to get sharp pictures!

[Referring to the Pentax 67]

Yep, I don't think I've ever shot with my 67 and 45 on a tripod yet. See the above pics I took of the F5 fighter jet. It was a bright day and I was shooting with Tri-X, so I had more shutter speed than I needed.

 

[Dan Fromm]

OP, depending on what you want to accomplish and how good you are at finding inexpensive wide angle lenses, one of these https://www.maleficwares.com/ folks' bodies might suit. They're certainly inexpensive enough.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Dan, those are totally cool. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I was thinking about going with a Kiev 60 with the 30 or 45 because that's under $200 but these 3D printed cameras look awesome. An affordable 6x17 is especially cool as is the $70 4x5 infinity. That could be the ultimate ultralight camera for backpacking!

 

[Agulliver]

If you are able to lug a very heavy camera about.....Kiev 6 and the Mir 45mm f3.5 lens. Got my Kiev for £30 and the Mir for £40. I am lucky in that my Kiev 6 actually works!

A few examples attached. I doubt it can be done cheaper than this but the Kiev and the Mir together weigh something like 3kg.

 

[Arklatexian]

About 10 years ago when Hasselblad prices [Hasselblad 903 SWC]

Sirius, I have never bought anything for any purpose at no matter how good a price that later, someone bought the very same thing for less money. I have quit worrying about it. If I bought something at what I think is a "fair" price, I am satisfied. I am not "driven" to buy everything at "bottom" dollar to be happy. Life is too short to "worry" about such things..............Regards!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Bronica S2A (try to get a later model with stainless steel gearing). The wide lenses are the real strength of that system, which uses a complex falling mirror design, so that lenses can protrude into the mirror box, and wide lenses don't need as much retrofocus correction as they do on a system with a mirror that flips up (pretty much every other medium format SLR). The Nikkor 40mm and 50mm/2.8 are both really good, and there's also a less expensive 50mm/3.5 that's also good.

 

[BrianShaw]

Sirius, I have never bought anything for any purpose at no matter how good a price that later, someone bought the very same thing for less money. I have quit worrying about it. If I bought something at what I think is a "fair" price, I am satisfied. I am not "driven" to buy everything at "bottom" dollar to be happy. Life is too short to "worry" about such things..............Regards!

Amen

 

[GLS]

Amen

The 903 or especially the 905 is significantly more expensive than the older model SWCs; maybe the OP is referring to the latter.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sirius, I have never bought anything for any purpose at no matter how good a price that later, someone bought the very same thing for less money. I have quit worrying about it. If I bought something at what I think is a "fair" price, I am satisfied. I am not "driven" to buy everything at "bottom" dollar to be happy. Life is too short to "worry" about such things..............Regards!

I agree and I got a lot of use and pleasure using it.

 

[sixby45]

I can second the Rb67 50mm route but hav you considered one of the super wide GSW 690 series from Fuji? Their GSW is a 28mm in 35 terms (65mm actually) and is a stellar performer and you can pick up a version I or II for 350-500 dollars depending on condition.