lenses, the best of best

[Jim Galli]

Best is far too broad a category. I have upwards of 150 LF lenses. Best for a soft portrait might be an old brass lens I robbed off an ancient projector. You need to define what it is you want before you can narrow the field to bests. Give me the right picture elements and I'll make a picture people will enjoy looking at and do it with an old magnifying glass. Sharpness isn't everything, and in fact isn't really very important in the big scheme of things.

Pressed to pick the 5 I would never EVER sell, I might choose my Cooke Series XV (1947 vintage coated), my 355mm f8 Kern / Schneider Dagor, my 225mm Dagor type G-Claron, my 13" Pinkham & Smith Series IV, and perhaps my 22" Voigtlander Petzval. Those all do different types of work for me but have proven most satisfactory in what they do best.

[Brian Ellis]

wide angle - 80mm Schneider Super Symmar Xl, because it's small and light.

normal - 135mm Rodenstock APO Sironar S and 150mm Schneider G Claron, both are small and light.

long - Nikkor 300M, because it's small and light.

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

Schneider 150 SSXL is just amazing. Sharp and contrasty if you like that.
Schneider Apo-Symmar 240, again sharp and contrasty, plus a joy to focus.
Apo-Ronar 480: very pleasant lower-contrast but knife-sharp rendering.
Haven't used the XVa much yet.

Re Frank's comments on Zeiss, check out their website. Some product release on its way.

[Steve Clark]

The Apo-Ronars get overlooked all too often...fine lenses

[kreig]

300mm Apo-Lanthar (4x5, 8x10),
150mm Schneider Symmar,
240mm Golden Dagor (4x5, 8x10),
65mm Super Angulon,
360mm Rodenstock Apo Ronar (14x17)

All older lenses, however they are much better at producing sharp contrasty images than I can.

Kreig

[darr]

My favorites thus far:

Rodenstock 90mm/4.5 Grandagon-N
Rodenstock 120mm/5.6 Macro Symmar HM
Docter Optic 240mm/9 APO Germinar

Just ordered the Cooke Portrait PS945 229mm/4.5 from Badger and I'll bet it will be at the top of my list after I get to play with it for a day or two.

[Nick Morris]

203mm 7.7 Ektar; 100mm & 135mm WF Ektars; 13" Wollensak Series 1A Triple Raptar & Velostigmat (coated & uncoated); 9 1/2" Dagor; 8 1/4" Dagor; 16" Wollensak Series 1A Triple Raptar.

[Scott Davis]

14" Commercial Ektar f6.3 for an 8x10. produces the most amazing portraits... amazing Bokeh (oofas if you prefer - Out Of Focus Areas). It produces a really clean break-point between sharp and unsharp, but the unsharp is never harsh. It works on anything from a 4x5 to an 11x14.

[Bob Fowler]

As has already been said, "best" is a relative and quite personal term.

I have a boat load, but here are some of my favorites - or at least most often used:

14" Red Dot Artar for 5X7, 210mm f/f.5 Sironar-N for 4X5, 90mm f/8 Ilex-Calumet Wide Field Caltar for 4X5 (sometimes 5X7), 14" Commercial Ektar for 8X10, and last but not least - B&L Rapid Rectilinear lenses (they have a great "look" for portraiture).

[Ken Lee]

I agree with what Christopher Perez says about older lenses.





My favorite lens design is over 50 years old, and I'm not sure that anyone will be
able to improve on it. I take a pair of them along, whenever I go out shooting.