19" Lenses to cover 12x20

[J Conrad]

I am looking for lens choices in the 19 inch range, plus or minus an inch, to cover 12x20 other than the follow:
19" Dagor, 450 Nikkor M, 480 APO Nikkor

Thanks,
JC

[Jim Galli]

Series V Protar 18 1/8 inch covers 17X20. Single Protar series VII 18 7/8" covers 16X18 which is same or more diagonal of 12X20 Double Protar Series VII 18 1/4" which consists of 2 30 1/4" Protar VII's will cover 17X20. Prepare to rob a bank for any of these except perhaps the single VII 18 7/8" f12.5. 14X17" B&L Zeiss Tessar Ic or IIb would just cover and they are cheap. The Ic is 19 3/4", and the IIb is 19 1/4". Modern glass not mentioned is Schneider Symmar 480 f8.4. Almost everything I've mentioned is exotic enough to make the shunned Nikkor and Dagor look like a bargain. That's why the prices on them remain fairly fierce. They remain the best bang for the buck. Although the 2 old Tessar's might just be the sleepers here.

[sanking]

Most lenses of 450mm or longer originally designed for view camera work will cover 12X20, excepting a few of triplet design. Old Tessars, mentioned by Jim, are really good bargains because they don't have the sex appeal of Dagors, Protars, etc. However, I have a 14X17 f/6.3 Tessar of about 19" and it covers 12X20 very nicely and is remarkably sharp at apertures of f/22 or more. The only problem with old Tessars is that they are usually uncoated and since they have more air to glass surfaces than Dagors and Protars they don't have as much contrast but you can develop for more contrast and the kind of open shadows you get with these lenses can be quite interesting.

In the modern line any of the plasmat type lenses of 450mm and longer cover with more movements than you will ever need. In this list are 480mm Symmar, 480mm Symmar-S, 480mm Sironar and Sironar-N, etc. But these are really *huge* lenses and since they usually cost as much or more than the 450mm Nikkor M they don't really offer any advantage in my opinion.

Apo lenses such as the 19" Apo Tessar, 19" Apo Artar and the 480mm Apo Nikkor will also cover 12X20", but performance on the corners is a bit marginal, even with the lens stopped down to f/45 or f/64.

All in all it is really hard to beat the Nikkor M for price and performance in the 450mm range.

[CXC]

I use a Fuji C 450mm. It's the longest lens in a Copal #1, remarkably compact.

[Tracy Storer]

Eastman Anastigmat 19.75" f/10. Got one in user condition if you're (or anyone) interested.
Tracy