I'm happy with my Nikkor 180W. Except for the coverage. If you find fault with it, most likely it or the camera is broken. Or possibly user error.
You might want to *replace* your 180 with a 210, for any number of reasons, but I agree with the majority that there is little need to have both. A G-Claron 240 or even 305 would be a good addition to the 180, IMHO.
I recently purchased a new fujinon 240 A, f9 from Badger Graphics at a good price. It is just great! I highly recommend it.
I think I may have been a little unfair to the 180W. I use a 10x Schneider loupe that I put to the ground glass while focusing. The image I get from my 105mm Nikkor is much sharper (on the ground glass) than from my 180W. Maybe it's just normal with longer lenses. The sharpness on the negative is fairly good.
I think a 240 or 300 would be a good choice too, but I'm afraid of the weight and cost. How hard is focusing with those f/9 lenses? All my lenses are 5.6 and 4.5 so I've been a little spoiled.
I occaionally shoot in very low light: deep canyons at sunset. I have a 180 5.6 and a 300 8.5. In those conditions the 300 takes a bit longer to compose with and focus than the 180, but I have never missed a shot because my 300 is f8.5 as opposed to f5.6. If weight and cost and bulk were not factors then certainly I would prefer the greater ease of use of a 300 f5.6. The trade-offs for me are worthwhile.
How hard is focusing with those f/9 lenses? All my lenses are 5.6 and 4.5 so I've been a little spoiled.
why not just stop one of your lenses down to ~f/9 and try it? a good darkcloth or viewer really helps with slower lenses.
---Scott
www.srosenberg.com
What others are saying and I will addmy personal experiences. For many years I had a 210 in my kit and it languished, got very little use. Just didn;t quite fit with my visionof the world. Came across a good deal on an 180 some 5 years ago and wht do you know? The 180 has become a mainstay and gets reasonable use. OTOH I have used a Fujinon 240A for many years and it is one of my go everywhere 'must have' lenses. My keep it simple travel kit with two lenses includes a 135 Sironar S and the 240 Fujinon A. In additional to being a sharp lens with lots of contrast it is the smallest and lightest lens I own. 240mm and it covers 8x10, you can't ask for better.
Juuuust outside Your range, but I have to tell that my Fuji 250mm 6.3 (newer version, but with smaller image circle than the 6,7 I belive) is about the sharpest lens I have ever had, producing extremely high resolution images on velvia on 5x7 Norma. It's multicoated (but they don't write that on the barrel) and thrives in a No1 shutter. I know many favors the 6,7 version, which I have never tried, but I find the pictures from the Fuji to have the same qualities in resolution & contrast on same film as the pictures from my Rollei 6008's planar lens, thus no need to go any further in my opinion...
Nikkor W 180mm = 380g
G-Claron 240mm = 285g
Fujinon A 240mm = 225g
So you could *save* weight (and bulk) by going longer.
Check out the Lens Comparison Charts from the homepage of this website for basic lens specs:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses/LF4x5in.html
What about the 250mm f/6.3 Fujinon-W? These seem to be pretty cheap used. Does anyone know how this lens performs? I don't own any Fujinons, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Oops, I didn't see the post by tor kviljo. I think I might purchase this lens...I never seem to hear anything bad about the Fujinon lenses.
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