What is your favorite focal length for 8x10?

[Armin Seeholzer]

It depends for Landscape is it the 155 Grandagon for portraits normal starts from 240mm, 360mm up to 480mm!

Cheers Armin

[Craig Roberts]

Since starting 8x10 35 years ago, i gravitate to a lens in the 14-inch range. My most used lens is the 14-inch Commercial Ektar. From time to time I will an 8-1/4 inch Dagor or a 19-inch RD Artar.


Cole Weston, 1985
Wista 8x10 with a 14-inch CE.

[Sal Santamaura]

...Wista 8x10 with a 14-inch CE...

Calumet, not Wista.

[StoneNYC]

Calumet, not Wista.

I think he means the camera he shot with, not the camera that is pictured in the image with Cole.

For environmental portraits 300, close face 450, panoramic (cropped later or half slides) 150 and 300, normal landscapes 150/210/300/450/600.

There's no favorite, it all depends on application.

[Craig Roberts]

Yup - shot with a Wista. I should have been more specific

[William Whitaker]

IF you ask me tomorrow, you might get a different answer. But today I'll say 300mm. Many interesting lenses in that focal length (or very close to it). Heliar, Dagor, Kodak Portrait, Yada, yada.... And the focal length just "looks right" on 8x10.

One of my first grabs would be for a Cooke series xiv f/6.3 which is marked as 335mm or about 13" F.L. Very sweet old lens with a wonderful rendition. Similarly, the series xv... And another Cooke, a series IIA f/3.5 portrait lens which covers 8x10 plenty well, especially at the subject distances for which it was intended.

Tomorrow I may say the 10" WF Ektar. Or I may say that today...! This is a big reason why 8x10 is my favorite format... So many wonderful and historic lenses!

[Drew Bedo]

My longest lens is a 210 Caltar-II on a Toyo style notched lensboard. My Kodak 2D has an adapter lensboard to allow sharing my 4x5 lenses on the 8x10. The 2D doesn't have frone tilt (only rise.fall) and the lens covers if everything is lept pretty straight. someties I use a little rear tilt and watch the corners.

The 210mm is my 'favorite" lens for 8x10 because its the one I have.

My longest lens is a 15" Wollensak Tele Optar, but it doesn't really cover 8x10 and is awkward to use.

[StoneNYC]

My longest lens is a 210 Caltar-II on a Toyo style notched lensboard. My Kodak 2D has an adapter lensboard to allow sharing my 4x5 lenses on the 8x10. The 2D doesn't have frone tilt (only rise.fall) and the lens covers if everything is lept pretty straight. someties I use a little rear tilt and watch the corners.

The 210mm is my 'favorite" lens for 8x10 because its the one I have.

My longest lens is a 15" Wollensak Tele Optar, but it doesn't really cover 8x10 and is awkward to use.

I'm actually surprised you don't have something longer on 8x10, that's pretty wide (90mm equivalent on 4x5).

I do sort of the same thing, all my lenses are in linhof Technika boards and I use them in 4x5, 8x10, and 14x17 interchangeably. The 8x10 and 14x17 have reducing boards, and if I ever get a nice Petzval that's bigger would go on a Sinar board which is what the other end of the reducing board is. But right now everything I own fits in a Technika. Makes things really smooth and hassle free. Even my Packard shutter accepts linhof Technika boards.

I highly suggest this kind of thing, it just makes life easier. Any lens that doesn't fit probably wouldn't work on the smaller (4x5) camera anyway, and I can't imagine having a lens bigger than a Sinar shutter would accept.