Would you replace a 90mm and 135mm with a 110XL?

Happy New Year everyone. As today is a snow day here in Montreal (15 cm minimum), I've taken the time to re-evaluate my lens kit after having sorted all of my chromes for scanning. Having started in LF last April, I went on a lens purchasing rampage and ended up with the follwoing arsenal:

55 APO Grandagon
75/4.5 Grandagon-N
90/4.5 Grandagon-N
135 APO Sironar-S
210 APO Sironar-S
300 APO Sironar-S
120 Nikkor AM-ED

Having taken three major trips since then, I've been able to evaluate relative usage. Needless to say, each and every lens has been placed into action (which helps to ease the financial guilt somewhat). However, my most frequently used lens has been the 135 APO Sironar-S, followed by the 75mm and 210mm. In order to reduce weight, I'm thinking of replacing the 90mm and 135mm with the 110mm Schneider XL. Does this make sense? Does the 110XL compare favorably to the 135 Sironar-S and 90 Grandagon, both of which are ubersharp.

The 110 is clearly a wide lens, while the 135 is a normal. The perspective is very different. I will bet that under field conditions, you will see no difference between macro shots with the 120 and the 135. I would dump it first. I would then trade the 300 for a compact lens like the Fuji or Nikon - that will save you the weigh of at least two other lenses, since it is such a monster. You could replace the 90 with a Grandagon 90mm 6.8 and save a lot of weight with no loss of sharpness and not that much loss of light.

Keep everything, and then add to the weight with the 110XL. More glass the better in fine tuning your seeing.

Get a 3-wheeled baby jogging stroller to push your gear instead of carrying.

Hmm, its only snowing a bit less here in the Upper Valley. I dug a path to the studio and then retreated to the house. So ....... I almost agree with Walter. As you know I use both the 135 S and the 110 SSXL. I sold my 90 some years ago, a few months after i started using the 110. The 90 just wasn't seeing any use. The 135 still gets lots of use. First, I like its "look" and second when i want to take a real light kit with just one or two lenses stuffed in a pocket the 135 S is always one of them, the other is usually the 240A. The 110 has the same feel as the Rodenstock series S and W lenses, same sharpness and same difficult to define sparkle. I don't think you'll miss the 90.

OTOH, since I know your work, I'd definitely keep the 120. It's perfect for some of the real close in things you do, images that macro lenses were made to produce. The only other change I might recommend would be to switch the 300 S for a Fuji 300 A (remember you used it I think when we were shooting the Stations of the Cross) if you can find one and can live with the f9 max aperture. IMO, the other f8/9 300's aren't up to the A series. The only reason to make the change is weight.

Idk I think you have too many good lenses ;-)

It does seem kind of silly to add a 110 when you have the best fast 90 and the sharpest, most compact 135 already.... but everyone loves the 110. Going 75 to 110 to 210 are mighty big steps...

I kind of always thought a 110 and a 180 would make a nice two lens combo, or maybe the 80-110-180-240 as a set. But it seems silly to sell and buy lenses when you already have a helluva nice set.

But what do I know? I'm a one lens guy. And swapping gear around is a fun hobby as an alternative to photography, lol.

Your most used lens is the 135mm. There is a reason for that. Don't get rid of it.

Only you can decide of course. But I'll throw in my (much devalued) $0.02 USD just to try to give you something else to think about.

For my pack, the 75mm and the 90mm are too close together, while the 135mm and the 210mm are too far apart. So I'd replace the existing 90/135 combination with the 110mm SS-XL and a 150mm Sironar-S.

I'm only saying that of course because that's the combination that I have in my pack and that I've been using for four years now without even the smallest temptation to change. I find that I use my 110mm for about 30% of my work, the 150mm for another 30%, and a 240mm Fujinon-A for another 30%. But that's probably just me, clearly YMMV and all that.

Personally I would supplement the set with a 65mm, a 120mm wide-angle, a 180mm and a 360mm. But that's me, and wouldn't necessarily be right for you (in fact I use 150mm, 165mm, 240mm and 270mm too).

I don't agree that 75mm and 90mm are too close - a few mm make a lot of difference in the wide range.

a lttle OT but when you decide what lenses you are getting rid of you can donate them to me:) lol

eddie

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Originally Posted by Bruce Watson

Only you can decide of course. But I'll throw in my (much devalued) $0.02 USD just to try to give you something else to think about.

For my pack, the 75mm and the 90mm are too close together, while the 135mm and the 210mm are too far apart. So I'd replace the existing 90/135 combination with the 110mm SS-XL and a 150mm Sironar-S.

I'm only saying that of course because that's the combination that I have in my pack and that I've been using for four years now without even the smallest temptation to change. I find that I use my 110mm for about 30% of my work, the 150mm for another 30%, and a 240mm Fujinon-A for another 30%. But that's probably just me, clearly YMMV and all that.

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I also have the same lenses (with the 80XL) so I go 80XL, 110XL, 150 S, 240A... It's a big jump between 150 and 240 but I prefer to have the flexibility at the normal to wide end than the long end.

Tim