Originally Posted by
Dan Fromm
OP, are you photographing postcards or scenes shown in postcards? I find it hard to believe that you're copying postcards with a Bergheil.
Are you shooting sheet film or roll film with your Bergheil?
Few 6x9 (in Imperial, 2.25 x 3.25 inches) camera from the 1920s had shorter lenses than normal. And, for that matter, there were few wide angle lenses for 6x9 cameras in those days.
FWIW, the normal lens for 24x36 (that's 35mm still) is 43 mm. The normal lens for 2x3 is 100 mm. The 6x9 lens equivalent to a 35 mm lens on 24x36 is 81 mm. There are many ~ 80 mm lenses in shutter that can be used on, for example, a Century Graphic. Also in barrel that can be used on, for example, a 2x3 Speed Graphic. They're probably harder to find and more expensive than you'd like, but they exist.
About the "vintage" look. That's more a consequence of aging (photographic prints, picture postcards), emulsions used to shoot the original negatives and make prits, and exposure (taking and printing) than of the lenses used.
You mentioned trying a Graflex. Graflex' terminology is very confusing and it got you. Graflex is a company and a series of cameras. Graflex made several ranges of cameras. Graflex SLRs; Graphics, mainly but not all press type; Graphic View, view cameras as the name indicates; Century, more view cameras. To add to the fun, the Century Graphic I mentioned is a plastic-bodied version of the 2x3 Pacemaker Crown Graphic, itself a version of the Pacemaker Speed Graphic without a focal plane shutter. Are you confused yet? You should be. Of interest to your project, there are no wide angle lenses for Graflex SLRs. There are w/a lenses that will work on the others.
To confuse you further, I have a Century Graphic and 2 2x3 Crown Graphics, with 35, 38, 45, 47, 58, 60, 65, 75, 80, 85, 100, ... lenses that work on them. All but the 38, a 38/4.5 Biogon, cover 2x3. Lenses that will do what you want are out there.
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