Your first lens

[John Kasaian]

It occurred to me that there are a lot of threads asking about what first lens to buy for that first ever LF camera. Perhaps it would be of some worth to new shooters if a few of us listed our own "first" lenses in whatever large formats we've shot and if those lenses were good, bad, or indifferent.
I'll start:
4x5: 162mm Wollensak Velostigmat in a Rapax shutter that came with the camera. A classic lens for B&W. Surprisingly good for a cheap lens even though mine's uncoated. Quite nice for portraits

5x7: 14" APO Artar. Very sweet! While I originally got it for the 8x10, its more at home on a 5x7!

8x10: 14" APO Artar that I bought for about $400. I found it extremely sharp (again, this one's uncoated) but with limited coverage, so it's now found a happy home on my 5x7. Wide open at f/9 it is very easy to focus. Even at $400 and staggering sharpness, I think mine was a bit pricey for a 'first' 8x10 lens when compared to the 14" Commercial Ektar

12x20: 450mm Nikkor M. An incredible tessar lens with loads of coverage in a modern shutter---tack sharp all the way to the edges----how did they do that with a tessar??

Almost "first" lenses:
8x10: 14" Kodak Commercial Ektar. Like the Nikkor M, I found it to have uncommon coverage thats sharp all the way out to the corners. Its in a large #5 Universal shutter. Single coated, it's my "default" 8x10 lens now. The shutter requires something like a Gepe cable release to trip the double action(cock and fire) shutter. It replaced the 14" APO Artar on the 8x10.

4x5: 127mm Ektar in a wartime black supermatic. Uncoated. Sharp in the center and starts to mush at the edges. Minimal coverage for 4x5 with no wiggle room.A good lens for Speed Graphics but IMHO not for 4x5s that have tilts, swings, rise or shifts---you'll run out of coverage. The 203 Ektar is a far better deal if you want wiggle room on your 4x5.

[Doug Dolde]

SS XL 110mm

[Dave Moeller]

4x5: 135mm Optar - not enough movements to really get the feel for LF photography, so I quickly added a Fuji 250mm lens. A much better lens in every way.

8x10: 480mm f/9 APO-Nikkor with a Packard shutter. An excellent lens in all respects (as long as you don't mind not having a regular shutter); it's still my most used lens in 8x10. It also taught me the value of process lenses, including just how inexpensive 8x10 lenses could be if you are willing to forgoe a regular shutter.

Although I've since added a number of lenses, I've found that I shoot more with longer lenses in large format than I would have thought, given my choices in 35mm and MF. I've added wide angle lenses to both systems, but they see little action as I find longer lenses to be much more to my liking on bigger negatives.

[William Mortensen]

4x5: A little Bausch & Lomb Rapid Rectilinear with a broken (always open) Wollensak pneumatic brass shutter. It appears to have been cemented improperly, as there's a crescent around one edge. It came with a second-hand homemade 4x5 for $20. But I made photographs with it...

8x10: A Series II 9 1/2" Wollensak Velostigmat, uncoated with a Studio shutter, (two speeds, T and B). It has the adjustable soft-focus in the front, and despite myriad tiny scratches and bubbles, is a very sharp and reasonably contrasty lens. I think it was $30 or $35. It was my only 8x10 lens for several years, and I made some wonderful images with it. I'll have to take it out again sometime and let it show my Nikkor-M and Apo-Ronar what a REAL lens can do...

[Mike Chini]

152mm Ektar on a Super Graphic. Fantastic lens. Very sharp and contrasty. I regret selling that kit but I'm thrilled with the 150 Sironar-S!

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

The 5x7 Korona I inherited from my Great-Uncle in 1982 came with a 16cm f/4.5 Zeiss Tessar. Not a good lens for 5x7, so I replaced it with a used 210mm G-Claron, on advice from Stephen Shore.

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

4x5, 135 optar
8x10, 300 computar

[Bill_1856]

Post WW2 Steinheil Unifokal 150mm f:4.5 (coated) in Press Compur shutter. It was for a 9x12 Gaumont & Cie rosewood beauty that had been "liberated" in WW2, and given to me by my best friend's brother after its 135mm Zeiss Tessar had been removed. It was a wonderful lens -- I've never seen another one for sale anywhere.

[Kirk Fry]

4X5: Rodenstock Sironar 210mm. After 100 sheets of film you will have a general idea if LF is for you and what you want to get next.

Kirk

[Oren Grad]

The first LF lens I ever bought was a 250 Wide Field Ektar, for 8x10. But I made only 7 exposures with it before I had a chance to borrow a 240 Apo-Sironar-N, and it became instantly apparent that crisp, modern glass, in a crisp, modern shutter, was what I really wanted. Although I've tinkered with lots of different lenses new and old on a wide range of formats since then, in that one fundamental respect my taste hasn't changed.