Originally Posted by
RJ-
Hi Matt,
Another welcome from London - there's a few of us here. Also a few of us who never let go of the trusted Sinar monorail too.
Large format work for fast moving communion ceremonies may be challenging to dip your feet into - unless the images are planned in advance, instead holding up the ceremony.
Best take up Minh's kind offer - it may take trialling of a few lenses to settle on a favourite for your own style.
I tend to use what I have at hand instead of any coherent idea of what focal length works - mostly bright standard lenses equivalent - like the Docter Tessar 300mm f5.6 (a little easier to snap focus without a fresnel) or the more portable Boyer Saphir 300mm f9 (a Heliar type construction) when travelling or the low contrast Voigtlander 360mm f4.5 Heliar version if I'm not.
These are for the whole plate format (8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches). For 5x4", that works out between 150mm - 210mm. Even wide-angle SA XL 58mm lenses make great environmental portraiture work (if your camera can handle it) although chances are the screen will be too dark to realise that the tripod feet have inadvertently been included in the final image. It is more of the extreme wide-angle specialist end, rather than a general purpose lens.
Kind regards,
RJ
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