Bellows required for the new "Fine Art" lenses?

I am glad to see Schneider introduce these two new "Fine Art" lenses. It is a significant show of faith in the future of large format film-based photography. I am an 8x10 user (with aspirations to go bigger) thus the reason for posting this question under 8x10 instead of ULF. The 550 XXL with a 900mm image circle far exceeds my needs and there are smaller, less expensive, lenses available in this focal range. But new (multicoated) lenses over 800mm are limited (the Nikon Tel ED 1200 is the only one?). So the 1100 XXL really caught my attention. My question is: how much bellows do I need to use these lenses. I assume the 550 XXL uses about 550mm at infinity. The 1100 XXL has such a large image circle that I suspect it is not a telephoto lens, ie. will need about 1100mm of bellows at infinity. But there are few cameras with that much bellows, especially if you add in the extra bellows to focus closer than infinity. Which makes me think it must be a telephoto design. So how much bellows do I need? Thanks.

Neither lens is a tele design, so 2200mm of bellows would be needed for those nice, life-size 16x20 contact-print portraits. ;-)

Jeff



The 1100 mm Schneider, if you can afford it, is a classical 4-element symmetrical dialyte type like the apo-artar as far as we can see on the official brochure.



So be brave, you´ll need a 1100mm bellows.



No problem with a system monorail vew camera : you´ll just have to stack rails, intermediate frames and as many bellows as necessary ;-) ;-)

That's only a little over seven feet. I just want a peek at the ground glass when you have her framed up and focused.

Shooting at infinity, you would need 43.3" of bellows with the 1,100 mm lens. I was of the impression that this lens was designed specifically for the ULF community and that IMHO is a very good thing and long overdue. While my Wisner 11x14 field camera has 50" of bellows, I am not not aware of any 8x10 camera that will accomodate this long of a necessary bellows draw.

The 600mm Fuji competes directly with the 550 XXL at lower cost and is a fabulous lens. The 1,100 XXL however is in a class all by itself. Kudos for Schneider for getting out of the box.

For all of those folks that predicted not that long ago that ULF shooters would be coating glass plates by now, how about them apples? As a normal course of business I would bet you that Schneider did their homework before they just put this lens into production and the current status of conventional photography is still robust and working hard.

Cheers!

I also think it's great that Schneider has come out with these rather special lenses for ULF shooters. Indications are, however, that these are not "production" lenses in the usual sense, but special-order items. Thus, it's unlikely that there are hundreds of these making their way into the supply chain. But, I don't think that diminishes what Schneider is doing. It just means they are taking a sensible approach to satisfying a need they see in the market.

The 550mm XXL, with a 900mm image circle, would be a nifty wide lens for 20x24, though.

"While my Wisner 11x14 field camera has 50" of bellows, I am not not aware of any 8x10 camera that will accomodate this long of a necessary bellows draw. "

Reinhardt Wolf shot long process lenses with a Sinar 8x10. He used rail extensions, extra standards and bellows. You can do this with a rail camera such as Sinar or Arca.

Fuji used to make a 1200mm f24 Fujinon-1A in Copal 3 shutter. There were also 180, 240 and 600mm sizes and they were marketed for photographers, not reproduction workers. I have long pondered the same question. Even the 600mm would require more bellows than most



I have, by the way, a camera with a long enough extension. Its lens is a 52" (1320mm) f14 Cooke. Most of the length of the camera body is a solid box. The bellows allow focusing, but were not used to make the camera more compact. The camera was a British military item, from, I think, the 1950's. The lens is Infra-Red corrected.

Good point Peter. I should have said "8x10 field camera" with that long a bellows. Forgot about studio cameras.

Thank you all for the answers. I knew the 550XXL was overkill for my needs (and I already have the Fuji 600C). And I won't be be getting the 1100XXL as my 8x10 does not have that much bellows. I would still like a lens in the 1100mm range, but that must be a lens of a telephoto design (as I hoped the 1100 XXL would be). Any suggestions? The Nikon Tel ED 1200mm seems to get mixed reviews, including some significant criticism. Thanks, Jeff

The 11/550 XXL flange focal distance is 547mm;
The 22/1100XXL flange focal distance is 1056mm; and,
The 14/1100XXL (no shutter) flange focal distance is992mm.

I handled these lenses at New York's PhotoExpo. They are heavy lenses at 2460, 2320 and 2400 grams respectively. I'd say that if one shoots 11x14 or bigger, these lenses are must haves. I think that they are overkill for 8x10. I was told that list prices are over $10,000 each.

The coolest one was the 1100mm barrel lens. Its image circle wide open at f/14 is 900mm-the same as stopped down to f/22 . It comes with a fantastic set of waterhouse-type stops that slide into the barrel oh so smoothly-I want one.

I have a strong feeling that there will be a short run on these lenses, and they'll never be made again. IMHO, they will probably go up in value!

I work in a fine art camera store in Copenhagen, Denmark
Our selling price is euro 4408,- ex tax for the 550 XXL lens, delivery time is app 1.january.

I dont have any request on the 1100 XXL yet, so I dont have a price., but I actually have a few excentrics wanting this 550 XXL lens....(they dont even have ULF, "just" 8x10...!!!)